3 Sept 2012

This week was another crazy one but it was still pretty good!

I think that Elder Tukia is starting to figure things out now, at least how the mission life is like and we´re still working on the Spanish but he´s dedicated to learn it which is awesome! He´s been an awesome companion so far and has been an awesome example for me for is dedication and commitment. I know if he keeps going with the same dedication as he has right now he´ll learn the language in no time. He even got up and bore his testimony yesterday in Sacrament Meeting which was awesome! 

This week we found a few more people whom we are praying will progress. And one of our other investigators is progressing amazingly. We went and taught her on Friday and she had already read a bunch of the Book of Mormon and told us about how she prayed to know if it was true and how she felt when she received her answer. The spirit was so strong in that moment and she knows without a doubt that the church is true! When we invited her to come with us to church she said that she wanted to come by herself which kind of worried me a bit because usually when the investigators say that they don´t end up coming. She got there before we did! Church starts at 9 and she got there at like 8! And afterwards she said that she loved it!

This week we had a little surprise which idk if it is a good thing or a bad thing. Actually I think it´s a bad thing, we were doing our studies on Friday and some guy came and put a For Sale sign on our house. I think he was the Realtor for the owner of the house. So i called the owner and they told us that they want to sale the house so now we have to start looking for a new one. hopefully we can find one fast because it cuts down on our time to do the work of the Lord.

This week was a great week though! thank you all for everything, I hope you all have an amazing week full of spiritual experiences as well!


Elder Westwood

27 August 2012

It´s been a crazy week here! This week was changes, Elder Tzep left and went back out to David in an area that was next to mine out there and I´m training! When I was heard I was training I was kind of nervous and I wondered if i was gonna get another Latino or and American.. Well.. I didn´t get either. I got a Tongan! My new Comp´s name is Elder Tukia and he´s from Tonga but he moved to Utah like 2 years ago so he knows a pretty good English. I was super excited! Actually I still am haha he has pretty good Spanish too but we´re still gonna be working on it to help him get better.

This weekend we also had 3 baptisms which went great! We baptized Luiz, the guy that we´ve been teaching for a while and a couple of kids whose mom actually told us that she wanted them to get baptized even though she herself isn´t a member. She knows that the church is true but she just has a few trials in her life right now that we´re trying to help her overcome so that she can get baptized as well. After the baptism Luiz was asked to say a few words and he started talking about how for years he´s met a ton of missionaries but would never even talk with them, I think I talked a little about that before, but then Elder Tzep and I came and something changed. He said that he know´s without a doubt that God sent us there for a reason which was to teach him about the Gospel. His family was all super excited and after the service his brother-in-law came over and gave us a hug and thanked us saying that for years the whole family had been praying for him to accept the gospel and now he finally has. It was so awesome, I love being able to see the happiness and blessings that the gospel has brought to their lives and the lives of all whom we teach. 

I love being a missionary! We´re just instruments in the hands of the Lord here and it´s up to us to do his work so that more of his children here on earth can receive the blessings that he has in store for them!

Thank you all for all the love, support and prayers
Elder Westwood.

20 August 2012

Well this was another good week down here, and it went by super fast!

This week we worked a lot with Luiz, on getting him ready for his baptism next week. His interview was on Saturday night and he passed so he´ll be getting baptized next weekend! His family is all super excited, especially his wife. She said that she´s been praying for him to accept the gospel for the past 14 years and now he´s finally accepted it. They´re both really excited as well about the thought of going through the temple next year and having an eternal family. I think that´s the greatest gift that our Heavenly Father has given us, the opportunity to live with our families forever.

This week we also found a new family to teach. Well we actually found them last week but we went back this week to teach them again. It was actually kind of funny because when we got to there house the little kids were outside doing something and when they saw us they got all excited and started running around telling everyone else in the family that we were there. Then when we got inside they all hurried and found their chairs and sat down waiting for us to start teaching them haha it was pretty funny but it was super cool. The family is super positive and the spirit was way strong as we were teaching them. We´re praying that they´ll continue to progress and get baptized. The only problem right now is that the parents aren´t married so we´ve got to talk to them about that and hopefully we´ll be able to start the paperwork soon.

I can´t believe this change has already come and gone. Changes are this Wednesday, i´m pretty sure that Elder Tzep will be leaving but we´ll just have to wait and find out!
That's about all from me for the week thank you all for everything!


Elder Westwood

13 August 2012

Well this week was another great week down here! We found a lot of really cool people to teach, our investigators that we already had are still progressing and excited about getting baptized, and we had a baptism! A week doesn´t get much better than that here in the work of the Lord! 

The baptism was for a kid named Edgardo. I can´t remember if I wrote about him before but if not here it is. He's an 18 year old kid who has actually been wanting to get baptized for a while. But his parents didn´t want him to get baptized because they´re a really catholic family so he had to wait until he turned 18 so that he could be baptized. He´s way cool though, he loves the church and is always doing things with the young men in the ward, going to the activity with them and everything. He also says that he wants to serve a mission so he just have to wait a little while and then he´ll be leaving as well to join the rest of them that are leaving here soon. It´s awesome how much they´ve helped him and supported him throughout the time that he´s been investigating the church.

Yesterday we had the opportunity to talk in sacrament meeting. We talked about missionary work, kinda crazy huh? Ha so I was sitting there in sacrament meeting listening to Elder Tzep talk and then just like that he was done. Ha I honestly think he only talked for like 6 or 7 minutes. When he got done I looked at my watch and there was like 20 minutes left still. I was just like oh man this is gonna be interesting to see what happens. But it actually turned out pretty good afterwards everyone told me that they liked it and my comp said that it was good. Ha before the mission there was no way I could have done that without just standing up there and rambling on about nothing but it´s awesome to see how the mission helps us to be able to give these talks according to the spirit and what it indicates for us to say.

This week is the last full week of the change, ha i can´t believe another change has come and gone. They just keep going faster and faster. But we have alot of work to do helping our investigators to keep progressing until they get baptized.

Thank you all for all your love and support

Elder Westwood

6 August 2012

Well this was another good week in the work down here in Panamá!  Supposedly there was a storm or something hanging out around here this week so it rained alot. Well.. it always rains here ha i guess it just rained a little bit more than usual.

 

This week i went on divisions with the other Elders in my District, it was pretty fun and it was fun getting to help them in their areas with their investigators. On Wednesday I was working with one of the elders that is fairly new and we were contacting. We contacted this one house and this big black guy came out with tattoos all over him ha not gonna lie it was pretty intimidating. But we got talking to him and i think the first thing that he told us was that he knew that we were sent to him by God. He told us how only a few minutes before we got there he felt like he needed to open the front door and then we got there! The guy has had a rough life ha he just got out of jail after being there for 6 years. We only shared something small with him and then put another appointment with him for later on in the week but it was a way cool experience! It just reaffirmed that the Lord prepares the people to listen to the message that we are sharing.

 

This week we also went and worked with some of the youth in the ward that are preparing to go on missions. It was pretty fun, ha it reminded me of when i first got here to Panama. Except for the fact that they actually know the language haha. It was really cool though and they´re gonna be really strong missionaries. There are about 5 missionaries leaving from this ward in the next couple of months so we´re gonna try and work more with them to help them out for when they get to the mission field.

 

Sorry this one is a short one i don´t have much time but this should be another great week! We have a lot to do to get ready for the baptism we have on Saturday!

Thank you all for your support, love and prayers

Elder Westwood

30 July 2012

Well this was another good week down here! We had a baptism yesterday which was awesome too!

The baptism was for this 14 year old kid named Carlos. They´d started teaching him last change but he didn´t want to get baptized for a while but then one day we were at his house teaching him and he decided that he wanted to now. So we did it! The baptism was supposed to be on Saturday but nobody else from the ward was able to come, well nobody that could be a witness, so we changed the day for tomorrow. There were a ton of people there to support him and he was way excited! Ha honestly I think there was more people at the baptism yesterday than i´ve had at my other baptisms throughout my mission.

This week we also found some really positive people and our other investigators that we have are progressing amazing! One of the guys that we are teaching is married to a member and they have been together for 13 years. On Tuesday we were teaching them and he began to tell us about how before he didn´t want anything to do with the church. He told us about how before, his daughter would get up on Sunday mornings and ask him to go to church with her but he never wanted to, but now he is the first one up on Sunday mornings and is ready before the rest of the family to go to church. He also talked about how before he would just go throughout his days and do whatever he wanted not thinking much about it, but now he said that with everything he does he thinks about our Heavenly Father and what he would think about the things he´s doing. It was so awesome to hear these stories as he was telling them to us! His wife also told us more changes that she has seen in him but the most important thing that they´ve noticed is that they are a lot more happy. Since he started investigating the church their home environment has changed. 

One of the coolest things about being out here is seeing the blessings that the Gospel brings to the lives of those who accept it. It´s such a blessing to have it here on the earth and the love that our Heavenly Father has for each and every one of us. I love the mission!

Thank you all for everything, all your support and prayers
Elder Westwood

23 July 2012

Well I´m starting to get used to the new area. It reminds me a ton of Los Andes, my area before i went out to David. Ha i think the reason it reminds me of Los Andes is because of all of the hills. There are a TON! But it´s all good ha the people here are great!

 

This week Elder Amado of the Quorum of the 70 came to Panama to talk with us. It was so cool! That guy is so smart! ha we learned a ton from him, basically he just taught us how we can be better teachers and what we need to do to become better missionaries.

 

On Wednesday we were teaching one of our investigators that we found contacting last week. We were outside sitting on her front porch and there were people coming and going and little kids screaming everywhere and needless to say it was super hard to keep our attention. But anyways we were teaching her about the atonement and baptism and Elder Tzep was talking and while he was talking i looked away for a little bit and when i looked back I saw the tears building up in the eyes of the investigator. She began to cry and talk about how she wants to have a clean slate again, have everything bad that she´s done be erased. So we told her that the way she could have that is through baptism and she told us that she wanted to get baptized. I learned a lot during this lesson, like how if we get distracted for even a little bit who knows what we´ll miss. And also the power of the atonement and how much we need it in our life and the blessings that we receive from it.

 

Saturday we almost had a baptism. We had one planned for this lady and her son but she told us on Thursday that she had to work over the weekend so we decided to change it to next weekend. Well Saturday we went to lunch and the lady that we ate with asked us if we were still having a baptism because the daughter of the lady we were gonna baptise came over and said that her mom was gonna get baptized later that day. So we ran over and talked to the lady and she said that her work called her and said that she didn´t have to start until next weekend so we called the Zone Leaders and made plans to have the interview and we went to go find the keys to the chapel to fill the font but we couldn´t find them and the Zone Leaders weren´t able to come and in the end she decided that she just wanted to wait until another weekend when we´d be able to plan it better and be less stressed out. It was a bummer but she still wants to get baptized and that´s all that matters. Hopefully we´ll be able to do it soon!

 

I love the work here it´s awesome! The mission is amazing! thank you all for your support and prayers.

Elder Westwood

16 July 2012

Well after spending 6 months in David I said goodbye to the people there. I got the call on Monday night so i packed on Tuesday and said goodbye the members, investigators and converts i met there. It was kinda weird saying bye to all of them after being there for so long. But who knows maybe someday I´ll be able to see them again. We left David Tuesday night at midnight and got here to Panama around 6 in the morning.

 

My new area is called Mañanitas in Tocumen. My companions name is Elder Tzep from Guatemala and if you can believe it or not he´s actually shorter than I am! ha he comes to about my shoulder I think but it´s all good because he´s got a great testimony of the work that we´re in and works hard! Not gonna lie it´s pretty different to be back here in the city, everything is just go go go compared to David where it´s really relaxed and easy going. But I´m excited to be here because it´s different and my area is awesome!

 

From what i´ve seen so far the members give a lot of support to the missionaries and will help us with anything. We also have some really cool investigators that are super positive and should be getting baptized this weekend! We also have had some really cool experiences since i´ve been here as well. On Thursday we were contacting and we contacted this old guy that that told us that he doesn´t go to church and he´s always had the question of why there are so many churches and nobody has ever been able to answer his question until we got there. We taught him about the Restoration and the spirit was super strong and he was super interested! He wasn't able to go to church this Sunday but hopefully he´ll be able to do it next week.

 

This has been a week full of changes but it´s been a good one. I love the mission

thank you all for your love and support

Elder Westwood

9 July 2012

Well this was a good last week here in David, I think it´ll be my last week here in David anyways haha

 

Yesterday we had one of our really positive investigators come to church with us which was great! The lady knows that the church is true and has been wanting to go to church for a long time but every week something has come up and she hasn´t been able to come. We went to go visit her on Saturday afternoon and she told us that she had already done everything that she needed to for the weekend so that there was no way she wouldn´t be able to go to church. So we passed by yesterday morning and she was all ready to go so we went to church and she loved it! The biggest problem that we´ve been having with her other than things coming up on Sundays is that she and all of her family and friends are Catholics and she´s afraid of what might happen if she gets baptized in the church. But when she went to church she saw a few of her friends that are members of the church so hopefully that´ll help encourage her more.

 

This week while we were contacting we also found a family of 4 that were really positive. We were contacting in an area that i´ve worked a few times but we´ve never found anyone very promising there. But we contacted this house and a lady came out and we started talking with her just getting to know her and she told us that she´d never talked with missionaries before but was really interested in the church. Unfortunately I won´t be here to see how they progress but i´m sure that Elder Montero and his next comp are going to help them a ton!

 

It´s weird to think that I´ll be leaving this area after 6 months of being here but I´m excited to see where I go. They should be calling us tonight to let us know!

 

Well that´s all from me for the week i hope you have a great week and thank you all for everything!

Elder Westwood

2 July 2012

This week was pretty sweet down here! This week we had training and President Ward and the AP´s came here to David. It was sweet!

 

We got a call on Wednesday night that the AP´s were already in town and that on Thursday Elder Monroy wanted to work with us. Elder Montero and I were kind of surprised that they wanted to work with us but I was actually really excited because I knew that he would teach us a ton!

 

When we went with him we went and visited a few of our investigators that have baptismal dates already set and he helped us out a ton with them, after each lesson he talked with us about what he felt that the investigator needed and we made plans of what we could do to help the investigator even more. One thing that he taught us was how important it was to make sure we gain the confidence of the ward members. While we were out walking he always asked us if there was a member that lived nearby or a less active member that we could go visit. So we´d go and do short visits with them to see if there was anything we could do for them and then we´d ask them if they knew anyone we could help or visit. I realized how important it is to make sure that we have the confidence of the members and as we gain their confidence we´ll receive more references and strengthen the ward.

 

Friday we had training which was great! I learned so much and so many things that i want to improve on ha I have a lot of work to do but i´m ready to do it! Sorry this one is really short we don´t have a lot of time today but thank you all for everything! I love you all!

Elder Westwood

25 June 2012

This week was awesome! Of course every week is awesome when you´re on a mission ha they aren´t always the easiest but I´ve learned that you´ve got to look for the good that happened and see the miracles that the Lord does for everyone.

This week we were teaching one of our investigators we´ve had for a while. I think I´ve talked about her before but she´s catholic and then first time we went there I thought there was no way that she would progress. While we were there we were talking about baptism and she told us that she wants to get baptized but is just nervous because she´s been catholic all of her life and all of her friends are in the Catholic church. So from now on every time we go there we are gonna go with a member of the ward so that she has friends within the church as well. Which will hopefully help her make the change in her life. I wish we would have done that from the beginning because I know that if we did so, she´d most likely be baptized already.

While we were there she also told us that she had hurt her back pretty bad earlier that day so we offered to give her a blessing. She accepted in and when we went back the next day she said the pain was almost completely gone. It still hurt a little but it was a ton better because the day earlier it was almost unbearable to even sit in a chair and do nothing. I love the privilege we have to hold the Priesthood! It´s amazing the miracles that we can do on behalf of our Heavenly Father here on the earth by the power of His priesthood.

This week we also found a lot of really positive people that we´re praying will progress and be baptized. This work is amazing! There´s nothing like it and I love it!

Sorry this one is kind of short but thank you all for everything! I love you all!
Elder Westwood

18 June 2012

Well this was another good week down here under the sun, and rain.

 

This week we did a lot of searching for the lost sheep or in other words we were contacting a lot. It´s interesting to see when the Lord has prepared someone to hear the message of the restoration of the gospel and to see those who aren´t quite ready to give up the things of the world and come unto Christ.

 

On Wednesday I believe it was, we were down contacting in this area when we´ve only been a few times and weren´t having any luck. We contacted house after house and we weren´t getting anything. It was getting pretty late and we were pretty far from the house so we decided to start making our way back towards the house when my comp went to this house to contact it. The door was closed which we usually don´t contact the houses with the doors closed because whenever people are home here they always leave the front door open. This older lady came out and we told her who we were and that we wanted to share a message with her and she invited us in. We were inside teaching her when her daughter and friend came in and were like, "wow Mormons." Apparently they´d both talked to missionaries before and were super surprised that the mom let us in because normally she won´t let anyone in. We retaught the message of the restoration with them to refresh their minds on what they had learned years before and the spirit was so strong! They were all super interested and participated a bunch in the lesson. This week we´re going back to teach them again and i´m sure that it´s gonna be another awesome experience!

 

One of the big things we´ve also been working on lately is searching for and reactivating the less-active members. One of the points of the gospel that i think a lot of people don´t realize here is the part about enduring to the end. So we´ve been trying to work with the members of the ward to help us find those who have fallen away and get them coming out again. The emphasis has been every member a missionary and that´s what our goal is so that we can all, not just the missionaries, help others to come unto Christ and stay active. So I guess what I´m sayin is if any of you know of someone who is less-active, do what you can to get them coming to church again! So that they can receive the blessings that come from our Father in Heaven which come from being active and faithful to His will.

 

well that´s all from me this week hope you all have a great week! love you all!

Elder Westwood

11 June 2012

Another good week down here ha I´m still getting used to having the new companion but we´re gettin used to it and working better together

This week we had a couple of cool things happen, we went and visited our recent convert Rosa to see how she was doing and teach her some more. While we were there she started talking about how since she got baptized and received the Holy Ghost she´s felt like she has more peace in her life. I guess normally she´s kind of high strung and she can get mad pretty fast but since then she´s noticed that she is a lot more calm about things. It was so awesome to hear her saying that because it show´s that she is noticing how much the gospel has already blessed her life. it was awesome!

We also went and visited one of the older couples that we´ve been teaching and the husband started telling us about how a few days earlier some missionaries of another church contacted their house. Before they could say anything he asked them where we go after this life here on earth because we had just finished teaching them about the plan of salvation a few days earlier. He said that they kind of stood there staring at him with blank stare on their faces and didn´t know what to say. Then he pulled out The Book of Mormon and taught them himself! Ha it was so sweet! I was doing all that i could to keep from laughing as he told us the story ha i can only imagine how those missionaries felt about that.

We´ve also been teaching this investigator that from the beginning she had a ton of doubts. She had a ton of questions and it didn´t really seem like anything we said satisfied her doubts. Then she asked for a Book of Mormon to read so of course we gave one to her. We went back a few days later and she said that she´d been reading the book and the more she reads it the more she is realizing that everything that we´ve been teaching is true and that the Book of Mormon is true. I love the Book of Mormon! it helps with everything!

This was a pretty good week and we´re looking forward to next week. thank you all for everything!
Elder Westwood

4 June 2012

Well I now have 4 1/2 months going on 6 here in David. We got the call around midnight Monday night telling us that Elder Oliva had changes and that I´m going to be staying here another change. We were both pretty surprised by it but oh well ha we just keep on doin the work! The Lord wants me here for a reason, so I´m gonna do all that i can to do His will.

 

My new comp is Elder Montero from Costa Rica and has about 5 months in the mission. He´s a really quiet guy ha he talks less than I do if you all can believe that. Our investigators were like he doesn´t talk very much does he?? Haha but it´s been fun getting to work with him so far, although he doesn´t talk much he has a really strong testimony of the gospel and is really good at teaching it to people. It´s been an adjustment after being with Elder Oliva for 3 months but we´re workin on it and I know we´re gonna see some more miracles this change.

This week we went contacting in a part of our area where I´ve only gone a few times just to see what we could come up with there. The first two houses we contacted were awesome! They´re actually right next to each other and they´re family. The first one talked about how a few years ago her husband died and so we began teaching her about the Plan of salvation, she was super interested and had a bunch of really good questions! Her sister, who lives next door, had a lot of questions about why there are so many churches and the differences between what every church teaches. So we taught her about the restoration and it answered a ton of the questions that she had.

 

That´s about all i have for this week ha changes took up a lot of the week but we´re looking forward to this next week to see what miracles we can bring to the people here in David!

 

thank you all for everything!

Elder Westwood

28 May 2012

Well we had another good week here in the work of the Lord. This was the last full week of the change so we wanted to try and get things ready for next change!

This week we also went and helped the sister missionaries in our district work their area since my comp is the District Leader. While we were working with them we had a really cool experience. We were teaching one of their investigators who they´ve been teaching for a while and have been trying to put a baptismal date with him but he´s turned it down every time. We were teaching him about baptism and why we get baptized, the spirit was super strong, and then at the end of the lesson the Sister´s tried putting another baptismal date with him and he accepted it! After he accepted it we asked him how he felt and he said it was a feeling that he hadn´t felt before. He said it was like a burning in his heart, and we described to him that the feeling he felt was the spirit testifying to him that what he was doing was right. It was a super cool experience and the spirit was super strong.

Yesterday we also finally got a ward mission leader put in! We´ve been asking for a while now and finally our prayers have been answered. The guy´s name is Pedro and he served his mission in Nicaragua when he got home he got put in as Branch President over one of the branches here in David. The guy is awesome and although he just got the call yesterday he´s helped us out a ton with our recent baptisms. Before I never really realized how important it was to have a Ward Mission Leader or to work with the members but it really makes a world of difference. Also the members have been giving us a bunch of references lately which help a ton as well. References are awesome because it usually means that the people are already somewhat interested and already have a friend who is a member of the church.

But anyways I think that´s about all from me for this week thank you all for your love and prayers! We still don´t know what´s gonna happen for changes, we find out tonight!

love you all

Elder Westwood

21 May 2012

It´s still raining! ha I´m pretty sure that the rainy season is here now, it rained everyday this week and it rained hard! Right now we only have one umbrella so we had to share it and walking in water up to our shins in certain areas ha it was great!

This weekend the Lord blessed us with the opportunity to see 2 more of his daughters, Rosa and Sharlyn, get baptized and confirmed into the church! It was so awesome! They were both super excited and way happy. The night of the baptism we didn´t have a lot of ward members show up which was sad but the spirit there was so strong. Before we finished the service Rosa got up and shared her testimony with all of us. The spirit there was so strong as she was sharing her testimony and tears of joy running down her face. It was so awesome!

This week we were teaching this other family which we found a couple of weeks ago and we were teaching them about the plan of Salvation. The lady had a lot of questions about where we go after we die here on earth and what our resurrected body´s will be like. We shared with her a few scriptures from the Book of Mormon and helped her receive the answers to her questions. I´m so grateful for the Book of Mormon and that we have it to help us teach the gospel better. A couple of changes ago i started reading the Bible from the beginning and I realized just how perfect the Book of Mormon really is. It´s so much easier to understand and is a lot more direct. I love it!

This week is the last week full of the change, ha it seems like it just barely started! but we have a lot of work to do and i can´t wait to find more people who have been prepared to hear the gospel!

Thank you all for everything!

Elder Westwood

14 May 2012

Well first off Happy Mother’s Day to all the mom´s who will be getting this! I hope you all had a great day!

This week was great down here! A little bit of snow actually fell here this weekend.... ha Just kidding but we had a Baptism! We´ve been teaching this girl Jenifer and her grandmother Ludia for the past couple of weeks and on Saturday Jenifer got baptized! It was so awesome to see her do this covenant with the Lord and she was super excited about getting baptized! Then yesterday she received the Holy Ghost and you could tell that her whole countenance just changed it was awesome. She´s super happy and I pray that she´ll continue in this path she´s entered.

Yesterday we also had a really cool surprise while we were at church. One of the families that we´ve been teaching lately came to church! We´ve only taught them a few times but every time we go they are super positive! But a lot of times they have to work on Sunday’s so they aren´t always able to come to church. They were supposed to be working yesterday but for some reason they didn´t have to work yesterday and they came to church and loved it! it was so awesome!

This week we had to go in to Panama City so that my Comp could renew his visa and while we were there we ran into a couple of Americans. it was weird to be talking with them in English and I found out that one of the couples we met have lived here for over a year and neither of them have picked up on Spanish still. Another family we met didn´t know a lick of Spanish and were having some problems because the people here don´t know English so they asked me if I could go translate for them ha it was so cool being able to do that! It was a pretty awesome experience because it showed me how much God blesses us with the Gift of Tongues to be able to learn the language so fast.

This weekend we have another baptism planned which we´re praying will go through so it should another great week!

Thank you all for everything I hope you all have a great week!

Elder Westwood

7 May 2012

This week was sweeet!! We had another great week down here under the sun, and rain now I guess too. We had some of the biggest storms this week than we´ve seen in a long time. The rain has cooled it off a little, only a little, but it´s still nice.

This week we were walking down a street which we walk on almost every day and had contacted almost every house on this street before. But as we were walking we saw this house which we hadn´t contacted and we felt that we should do it. So we went up and first a few little girls ran outside about the ages of 3 and 8 and then ran back inside really fast to tell the people inside who it was and then came back and told us to come in. When we went inside we waited for a little bit and then this lady came walking around the corner and had kind of a surprised look on her face when she saw us. She told us that her granddaughters had told her that we were kids that came to play with them and that´s why she told them to let us in. So we started talking with her to get to know her a little better and we found out that 2 of her daughters are actually members of the church and she had actually talked with the missionaries before and actually went to church and wanted to get baptized but for some reason the missionaries quit visiting them. But now we´re teaching her again and she´s going to be baptized on the 19th with her granddaughter who is 8!! It was so crazy how everything all went down with it down but we know that everything happens for a reason and that our Father in Heaven lead us to them.

We taught her a couple of times this week and on Saturday she told us that she wasn´t going to be able to come to church yesterday because she had to work but as we were sitting in sacrament meeting her and her daughter and granddaughters all walked in! We were so surprised! Afterwards she told us that late Saturday night her boss called her and said that she didn´t have to work. It was so awesome!! It was so awesome to see the Lord’s hand in everything that has happened with them. We´re going to do a Family home evening with them tonight with some of the other members of the ward. it should be great!

This was just a few of the many miracles which the Lord blessed us with and I know that he is blessing his children all around the world with many more miracles every day! I love this work!

thank you all for your love and prayers

Elder Westwood

30 April 2012

Well this was another pretty good week down here! it was another hot week haha but it was good!

We did a lot of service this week which was fun. They had a ward service project on Thursday which we went and participated in. We helped clean up the grounds around the Health Center in our area and then we also painted a couple of the rooms. Ha the plan was to have everyone there by 8 in the morning, ha I think if we would have said by 6 or 7 people would have shown up on time. Elder Oliva and I showed up a few minutes after 8 and we were the only ones there for about a half an hour when one of the sisters in the ward arrived. and slowly but surely the rest of the ward started trickling in haha but I think the majority of them showed up around 930 or 10. It was still fun though ha we were outside raking up the leaves and there was a group of kids from the age of 3 to about 12 going around picking up the piles. They were quite the team ha as the moved from pile to pile and the garbage bag got bigger and bigger the it took all of them to carry it around. it was cool to see them working together.

The other day we received a reference of a less active family who wanted us to go over and talk with them. Well we followed the directions we were given and we came to a house which wasn´t the right house. (they don´t really have addresses here so it´s kind of a guessing game) but soon after talking with the people who lived in the house we realized how much they needed to hear the message we had in that moment. The mom started talking about how a couple of years ago this week one of her sons died but she thought that there was no life after death. So we started teaching her and one of her other sons about the Plan of Salvation and it answered a lot of their questions. it was way cool and we´re going back there this week to teach them more!

This week is another week full of service, ha I think we have service projects planned everyday this week. should be fun!

thank you all for everything I hope all is well!
Elder Westwood

23 April 2012

Well I would tell you all about my new area and new companion and everything but I stayed here in David and I stayed with Oliva for another change too haha. We were both super surprised that I didn´t have changes but it´s cool that we´re staying together again. We have a lot of plans for this change which we´re praying will help our success.

This week we went back and taught one of our investigators named Danny and his wife Diana. Diana is already a member but has been less active for the past couple of years but she told us that she wanted us to start teaching her husband. he´s a way cool guy and has actually gone to church quite a few times with Diana when she was still going. We talked a lot about the family and how the gospel blesses families and he said he wanted to be baptized! it was so cool! The only problem is that they have to get married first which could take a while to do but it´s alright ha as long as he gets baptized. When we told him that he had to get married before he could be baptized he was a little nervous, Diana has been wanting to get married for years but he´s always been nervous to do so but after talking for a bit he said he wanted to get married so this week we´re gonna help them start the whole process.

Yesterday we went and visited an older couple whom we contacted a couple of weeks ago. Right of the bat they told us that they were members of the catholic church and we found out that they´re actually really strong members of that church. But the past couple of times we´ve gone back we´ve noticed a change in both of them. They are actually really interested in learning more about the church and even asked us for a Book of Mormon before we could offer one to them haha. Then yesterday while we were there the wife started asking more about things like if there was a dress code at church and made sure she knew where it is and what time it starts and said that she wants to come and learn more! It was so cool to hear that because our first visit with them they said they always go to the catholic church on Sundays and none other but now they want to come. I know that the Lord is softening the hearts of the people here an preparing them to hear the message of the Restoration of the Gospel.

The mission is awesome! thank you all for everything

Elder Westwood

16 April 2012

Time fly’s when you’re having fun!!

We’ve come to the end of another change, this week we have changes and I we’re thinking that I’m gonna be leaving. I can’t believe this change is already over it seems like it just barely started! We get the call tonight to see what does gonna happen! This has been a super fun change though and I’ve learned so much from my comp. it’s been a good change!

Yesterday, I got to talk in sacrament meeting. The bishop passed us in the street earlier this week and asked if we would talk in sacrament meeting for about 10 minutes each. At first I was a little nervous that I wouldn’t be able to take up the full 10 minutes because I remember at home that was always a problem. Well yesterday I started my talk and before I knew it I had the 1st counselor in the bishopric handing me the little note that said to start wrapping things up. It didn’t seem like I had been up there for 5 minutes and when I returned to my seat my comp said I was up there for 15 minutes. It was kinda funny but it was cool ha I guess that’s one of the many things that the mission has helped me with.

This week we went to visit a lady and her kids who we had contacted last week. When we got there the lady told us a story about how a couple of days earlier her 8 year old son went up to her and asked her why people had to die with tears running down his face. We had actually planned to teach them about the Plan of Salvation this time as well. So we taught them and made sure that her son was there and understood everything so that he knew that death wasn’t the end.  It was super cool to see how things all fell into place. 

Sorry I don’t have much to report this week but I hope all is well at home!

Thank you all for everything!

Elder Westwood

9 April 2012

Well I hope everyone up there had a good week this past week, it was another great one down here in Panama!

I think Chase’s run ins with dogs lately started rubbing off on me, but don’t worry ha no blood. We went to one of our Investigators house’s on Tuesday and as she was walking out the door her dog bolted out running right towards me. There was a little wall that I figured tied just stop right there and start barking like the dogs usually do but this one jumped the wall and went right for my left ankle. At first it didn’t really hit me what was happening but then I felt its teeth around my ankle and that got me goin a little bit. I was about to kick it but I didn’t want to because our investigator was standing right there and I didn’t feel like that would have turned out to well. She felt so bad though she was there screaming at the dog to get back in the house. But anyways I felt the dog’s teeth start to put pressure on my ankle but then all of the sudden the pressure left, the dog still had it’s mouth around my ankle but it was like it couldn’t bite. I know that the Lord helped me out on that one, and it was because of all of your prayers so thank you!! 

After the whole dog incident we started teaching the lady and it was so sweet! Last time we taught her about the Restoration and Joseph Smith and asked her to pray about it to know if it was true. She told us that as she was praying she had this overwhelming feeling of peace come over her and she knew in that moment that it was true. It was so awesome!! We invited her to be baptized but her family is a super strong catholic family and she’s afraid of what they’ll do if she gets baptized. So we’re going to keep working with her on that and see if we can help her overcome her fears.

This week we also found a lady who has been inactive for the past couple of years. While we were talking and getting to know her a little more she told us that the reason she went inactive is because she had some questions about certain doctrines which were actually quite easy questions but before she asked the missionaries and they never answered the questions for her. Because the missionaries didn’t take the time to answer her questions she went inactive for about 4 years and missed out on the blessings that she could have had. After we answered her questions she told us that she wanted us to come back and start teaching her husband about the gospel and that she was going to start coming back to church. It was and interesting experience and helped motivate me to become a better missionary and expand my knowledge of the gospel more so that if this happens again ill know how to answer the questions and keep people active in the church!

Thank you all for the prayers, love and support! I hope you all had a great Easter Sunday!

Love, Elder Westwood 

4 April 2012

Wow, what a great week this was! Not just for us down here in Panamá but for everyone in the world! I LOVE GENERAL CONFERENCE!!

We started out the week this week with Zone Conference which was awesome! The main focus was on the Book of Mormon and how important it is. We all learned a lot from it and Elder Oliva and I have made it a goal to start teaching more by the Book of Mormon and teach the investigators why it is so important that they receive their own testimony of the great book.

We’re still working with our families that we found a couple of weeks ago. They’ve been progressing really well ha my comp and I were talking about the mom of one of the families and how much she’s been reading the Book of Mormon. Neither of us have had an investigator before who has read so much of the book. I think she’s about to 2 Nephi which is great but the part that is more awesome is that she understands the gospel principles which are being taught. It’s so awesome!!

General Conference was amazing! I hope everyone back home had the opportunity to watch it. I learned so much from all of the talks, ways that I can improve myself as a person and as a missionary. Some of the other Elders and I were talking about how Conference went by way to fast. But before we know it the next one will be here! It was also awesome to see how many people came that weren’t members and after listening to the conference would find the missionaries and tell them that they wanted to learn more about the church. We had a few investigators that were able to come and afterwards told us how much they loved it! 

This week we have a busy week which hopefully will go as well as last week! Thank you all for your love, support and prayers!

Elder Westwood 

26 Mar 2012

It rained this week! Ha I never thought I’d actually be excited to say that it rained here in Panama but this time I was. It’s been super hot lately ha it was nice because it cooled things down a little bit. But it also made the air even more humid so idk which is better haha.

This week was another good week down here. We worked a lot with the families that we found last Sunday. We were teaching one of the families on Thursday night and the mom started talking about the Book of Mormon. The time before we left them one so they could start reading it, we asked them if they would read 3 Nephi 11. Well they had all read the chapter and the mom actually read the chapter and then started reading from the beginning, including the introduction and all of the testimonies and was a couple of chapters in to 1 Nephi. She told us that she feels like Book of Mormon is true and she even started talking about the doctrines she learned while reading such as baptism, faith, and obedience. It was so awesome! They all are super positive and we’re hoping they’ll commit to being baptized here soon but first the parents have to get married so that might take a little time. But that’s alright as long as they get baptized!

This week we were riding our bikes to one of our appointments and one of the tires on my bike went flat. It was kind of frustrating because after that appointment we had to go all the way to the other end of our area which would have been like a 30-40 minute walk and a good chance that we would have missed our next appointment. So we went and taught our first appointment and the guy is way cool! we’ve only taught him a couple of times but he always has a ton of questions, he’d been taking the discussions about 10 years ago but then he stopped so there’s a lot of things that he’s forgotten and allot of things that he needs to have cleared up for him. Well we got done and he saw that my tire was flat so he told us to wait for a couple minutes and he walked in his house and came back out with a patch kit and fixed my tire! It was so cool and such a blessing!

I’m so excited for General Conference this weekend! It’s always awesome when you get to hear from the leaders of the church, especially the prophet and apostles! We’ve been inviting all of our investigators to come and check it out so hopefully they do!

Thank you all for everything! All your support and love!

Elder Westwood

19 Mar 2012

Well this was another great week in Panamá just doing the Lord’s work!

This week we worked super hard again and had a lot of success come from it. I learned a ton this week from Elder Oliva which was great ha he’s an awesome elder and works hard which is awesome! Ha I think the thing that he’s helped me the most on is my Spanish, my last two changes I was with American companions and as a result my Spanish kind of dropped a little because we always talked in English ha I kinda regret that. But Elder Oliva doesn’t know very much English so it’s been fun helping him with that and him helping me with Spanish.

We found a ton of way positive people to teach this week too which was awesome. We found a lady who lived in another area of Panamá and was taking the lessons from the missionaries and even had a baptismal date but then she moved here and didn’t follow up with the missionaries here. But we found her and hopefully she’ll get baptized here soon! We just have to teach here a little more and see how things go. We also found a couple of families and while we were teaching them they had a ton of questions which they said that nobody could answer before with answers that seemed right to them but as we answered their questions it was like things fell right in to place. I love when that happens haha!

Yesterday we had stake conference which was sweet. Well actually, I think all stakes in Central America had stake conference yesterday. The church did a broadcast from Salt Lake City to all of the Central America countries. It was so sweet! President Packer presided and also other members of the quorum of the 70 spoke to us. They talked a lot about how fast the church is growing in Central America and how the members need to work on helping keep each other active. There are actually a ton of members here but unfortunately there are a lot that are inactive which is sad. But hopefully we’ll see a change in that here in the upcoming months!

Yesterday for my birthday one of the sister missionaries that’s in our ward made me a cake it was so good haha! It was kinda weird being away from home for my birthday but it was worth it because of the work I’m in right now! I love it!

Thank you all for everything!

Elder Westwood

12 Mar 2012

This week was another great week in the work down here in the sun haha. It’s been super hot lately ha the people say that this has been the hottest summer here they’ve ever seen. Ha it’s kinda weird to think that its summer here and winter there well pretty much spring I guess.

We had changes this week. Elder Goodfellow had changes and I found out that he went to an area called Colón and went up to be ZL which was sweet. Ha I was excited for him but the coolest thing about it is that he’s companions with my trainer, Elder Echeverría!! I was way excited to hear that haha I’m sure they’re doing great there and working hard.

My new companion is Elder Oliva from Honduras. I figured I’d have Latin comp after having two American comps back to back. He’s a cool guy though. He has just over a year in the mission and doesn’t know hardly any English which will be good for me because I can work on my Spanish and I’m going to help him with his English! Since we’ve been together we’ve worked really hard which is good so hopefully we’ll keep this up all change!

A couple of days ago we were teaching some investigators that we found when I was with Elder Goodfellow and we started talking about how the Gospel helps and blesses families. The mom started talking about how her sister-in-law got baptized into the church about 4 or 5 years ago and they said that she is like a completely different person now. Apparently she was a very hard person to get along with and not too many people liked her but since she’s joined the church she has changed completely and their whole family has noticed this change. It was so awesome to hear her tell this story and to see that she noticed how much joy that the church can bring to someone. I’m so grateful that I was born into the church and seen these blessings in my life and I now have the opportunity to invite others to have these same blessings and happiness in their lives.

I think this is going to be an interesting week as my first full week with Elder Oliva but it’s gonna be good. We’re gonna keep working hard and see the miracles the Lord has in store.

Thank you all for everything and all the love!
Elder Westwood

5 Mar 2012

This week was such an awesome week in the work here in Panamá!

Since it was the last full week of the change we set some high goals to really push ourselves and to get some more things going in the area for next change. Up until last week we only had a few really positive investigators and we wanted to change that so that’s what we did. It’s amazing to see just how many people the Lord has prepared to hear the message of the gospel. We had some super spiritual experiences and are experiences that neither of us will forget!

 It was kind of funny though. I’m not exactly sure how long the missionaries have been living in the house we’re in right now; if I was going to guess I’d say for a long time. The reason I say that is because most of the people that we found which were the most positive lived like on the same street as our house or just around the corner ha and almost all of them had never talked to the missionaries before. 

We found this family of where this mom knows like perfect English, ha she actually has a super good accent too, and it’s probably the best English accent I’ve heard since I’ve been in Panamá. At first we taught the son and when we went back a few days later we were talking with the mom because he wasn’t there and she told us that he told her that he wanted us to start teaching him in English. Apparently he knows English pretty well, well he can understand it but he can’t speak it very well so we’re going to start teaching him in English and try and help him learn the language a little better. 

This week we also had to go work with some of the sisters in our district since my comp is District Leader. We went up into the mountains and we came to this little village where a bunch of Indians live. One of the families we taught was a family of 9 people and they all lived in this little one room house which was probably 10´x10´. It was so crazy but they were so cool!

This week was awesome and hopefully we’ll be able to keep it up next change as well! Although we’re pretty sure my comp will have changes so hopefully my new comp and I can keep it up!

Thank you all for everything!

Elder Westwood

27 Feb, 2012

This past week was a pretty good one

we had training this week which was actually really good. I learned a TON and a lot of things I want to work on so that I can become better while teaching lessons to investigators. Ha it was really good because it reminded me of a bunch of things which I learned while in the MTC which I had forgotten. My comp and I are planning on using a lot of the things we learned in this next week and see what kind of difference it makes.

This past weekend there were a bunch of baptisms within the zone so since my comp is the District Leader we had to do a bunch of traveling so that he could do the interviews for the other missionaries in the zone. It was pretty cool to meet all the people who were getting baptized though. On Saturday there was a baptism in the ward of the kids of one of the recent converts. At first the guy was nervous about baptizing his kids and wanted other people to do it but the missionaries talked to him and encouraged him to do it and finally he decided to do it. It was so awesome to see! After the baptisms I was watching him as we were singing the closing hymn and you could just see how happy and proud he was of his kids for finally making the decision to be baptized!

This week should be a good one for us. Since it’s the last week of the change we set some pretty high goals and we’re determined to get them so we’re praying all will go as planned! We also are going to have a baptism on the 1st of March! The lady is super awesome and my comp was telling me that they’ve been teaching her for almost 2 changes. We’re all super excited for her though and know she’s going to be a strong member!

Thank you all for everything I love you all!
Elder Westwood

Feb 20, 2012

Well this week was another good week here just doin the work of the Lord!

One day this week when we were contacting we came to this house that this guy was sitting out in front on a chair trying to fix an amp. So we starting talking to him and right away he invited us in and we just started talking and got to know him a little better. He actually knew a little about the church but not too much so we started teaching him about the book of Mormon. It was sweet because as we were talking about it out of nowhere he asked us if he could buy the copy we had with us haha. Of course we just gave it to him and then as we were finishing up the lesson he was just like "When are you gonna come back again?" ha I love when we find people like him! so we set another appt with him for this week and he was telling us how he wanted us to meet his wife and kids and was gonna make sure that the whole family was there. It was so awesome!

Then yesterday we went to go visit one of our investigators that is getting baptized next week. When we got to the house she wasn’t there but as we were walking away we heard someone yelling for us. At one of the houses near our investigator one of the members of the ward was visiting with one of her friends and she wanted us to meet her friend and start teaching here. The lady had just had a baby so we taught her about the plan of salvation. It was so awesome! She had a ton of way good questions and was super interested! Ha she had so many questions haha it was crazy but we set up another appt with her for this week as well which should be sweet!

This past week was pretty sweet and hopefully this upcoming will be just as good! I love this work!
Thanks for everything
love Elder Westwood

Feb 13, 2012

Happy Valentine’s Day tomorrow everyone haha

This week was pretty good in the work down here! We did something this week that I’ve never heard about before but it actually turned out pretty well. On Wednesday all of the missionaries in the zone went up to this area called Boquete. There we met with the Branch President and some of the other members in the ward and they gave us a list of names of less active members and part member families within the ward. I guess there´s actually quite a bit of members who live up there but there assistance at church has been like in the 30s and 40s. So we went up and broke up and went and found these families and invited them back to church and then we went and found other families to invite to church.

The Branch President did this when he was in his mission in Nicaragua and they had a ton of success. In one month the mission baptized 501 people! So now we´re just waiting it out to see how well it worked. I’m sure that if we see a lot of success come from it we´ll start doing it more in the mission. Yesterday in church Elder Goodfellow and I talked with all of the Young Men in the ward and their leaders and we want to go out with all of them in a couple of weeks and do something kind of like what we did in Boquete with them. We have a super strong young men’s group right now so we´re praying that we´ll see success from it.

On Saturday we did something that my comp has been wanting to do his whole mission but hasn´t been able to do it until now. Ha he´s always wanted to kill a chicken to eat so on Saturday one of the family´s in the ward let him do it. Ha it was pretty interesting he was super nervous about it at first haha. After he killed it they make him pluck all the feathers and then cut it up too. They use like everything! Ha I think the only part they threw away was the head. Ha it was crazy but after we left the lady cooked it and we ate it for dinner that night haha. It actually tasted pretty good too.

Well I hope you all have a good week this week! Thank you for all your prayers and support!

Elder Westwood

Feb 6, 2012

Well now that I´ve spent a little more time in my new area I’m starting to like it more and more! The members up here are awesome! And the people are a lot more accepting too.

This week we did a service project for one of the recent converts in the ward. He told us that he needed some help doing cement at his house. One of the rooms in his house just had a dirt floor and wanted to put cement down. When I heard this I was just like man this is gonna be interesting to see how they do it here. And I was right haha we showed up on Wednesday morning and there were two big piles, one of gravel and the other of sand and then a bunch of bags of cement powder, one wheelbarrow and a couple of shovels. What we did was cleared an area where we could put all of the ingredients together and then add water and then we´d shovel it into the wheelbarrow and then go dump it where it was needed. Ha it was quite the process haha. The pad was only about 10´x20´ but I think it took about 3 or 4 hours for us to do it. ha it was actually kinda fun just because it was so different from what I was used to but it made me appreciate what we have in the states to make things like that easier and it made me realize how much I want to get a good education so I don’t have to be doing concrete the rest of my life haha.

This week one of our investigators got done with all of her paperwork so that she could get married so she could be baptized so that was pretty awesome! She was actually a pretty strong catholic but she started having questions about her church and she is dating a member of the church but at the time he was less active. So they were talking about it and he decided to bring her to church and they´ve been coming ever since! It´s so awesome! They´re gonna be married on the 28th and she´ll be baptized on the 1st of March. ha we tried to do it for the 29th since it only comes around every 4 years but she couldn´t do it because she had school or something haha but that´s ok. At least she´s getting baptized!

The work up here is going great! I love my new area and the people here!
Thank you all for your love and support
Elder Westwood