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
Sunday, September 9, 2012
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.
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
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
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
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)