Things Are Going Well 6/24/2013

Dear Family!

Pics for this week, just a fun aldea that we went to that sold Walters juice, had to buy it ha ha. Also I don't remember what one of them is so y'all can guess!

But yeah, sounds like y'all have had a pretty exciting life lately, especially dad. Totally jealous of the whole DC thing. One of my goals is to at one point take trips to both NYC and DC. Two places I really, really want to get to know. So, who knows when but I hope one day to do it. Also, cool that y'all could go to the campout! Wish I could have been there, it's always a truly... unique experience. From the photo I can tell that this year was no different.  

Also, I dunno if this is like super selfish but I might not write a ton of people this week or the next couple until I come home. It's nothing against anyone but I just...figure that I can just talk to y'all soon, sorry for the inconvenience and for all those that are so faithful in writing, thank you so much, the effort and love is not lost on me. Y'all rock!!!!!!!!

So now on to me, this week was good, we were working very very hard and we have a few investigators that are progressing. Pedro was in church as always but for some reason just doesn't want to accept a fecha but we're working hard with that. We have a couple young men that came to church as well so that's good. Things are going well. I love you all, sorry this is so short but I'll see you all soon.  

LOVE YA!

Elder Westenskow

Happy Fathers Day! 6/17/2013

BEFORE ANYTHING, HAPPY FATHERS DAY TO THE BESTEST DAD IN THE WHOLE WORLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOVE YA DUDE! HOPE IT WAS GREAT!!!

 

How is it going there? Hope things are going well. Glad that y'all are making a few preparations for my homecoming, I have a few ideas of things I want to do when I get home. If you want, I'll share, if not, they'll be secrets until I get back.  ;-)

Also, I GOT THE PACKAGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  That marks 3 perfect years of package sending to Guatemala, the Lord does bless us in the little things. AND THE PACKAGE IS AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ha ha. Love it. Thank you so much and the gift was AWESOME as well!! I included a few pics of the fun stuff inside!  LOVE YOU ALL!!!

 

 

As for our week it was really good. Bacilio has kinda disappeared, we can't find him and he hasn't been to church in two weeks now so we really don't know what to think there, seems like he might have gotten spooked or something, I dunno. We'll go this week but honestly, I don't know what will happen. 

We do have Pedro however, he's still doing good. He almost didn't come to church because his brother invited him to go to an evangelical church this week and he was like "it's all the same so maybe I won't go to San Cristobal anymore" so we were like "it's not the same" and he was like, "okay, I guess I'll go then" So that turned out alright. We're going tomorrow with President Bautista tomorrow to hopefully put the fecha. So he's going well. The fecha would be for the 29th which is also my 2 year mark which is also less than 2 weeks away. Weird. But I love it :)

Also things are going great with Brayan, our less active, we're also going tomorrow with them with President, that's actually the reason that he wanted to come out so that'll be fun, hopefully he can exercize a good influence there :)  They are just super cool with us, but there's a difference between being super cool and going to church ha ha. We want to clear that gap.  

We also have a few other positive investigators but they're progressing slowly. But we do have a lot of hope for the area, things are always slow at the beginning so it's actually going pretty well :) We're stoked.  I love the mission, I love my area, love my comp, it's all going great. A great way to finish I think, I think.  Not sure if I'm ready to finish but I'm stoked to see all of you.  

 

LOVE YOU ALL AN ENGLISH TONNE!!!!!!!

Elder Westenskow

Working Hard and Seeing the Blessings 6/10/2013

Hey there everybody!

First off, glad that everyone was able to have an enjoyable week either in Texas or at home, sounds like a lot of fun! Wish I could have been there but that's how things happen sometimes ha ha. As for me, I'm super stoked, I told mom but I'll let y'all know, about my sacrament meeting talk topic! It's about the covenants we make. I'm sure that nobody but the Lord really knows how much I have studied covenants in the last few months and I have gained a love and sincere appreciation for these sacred promises that we make, I'm very very excited to be able to share a little about what I have learned. Seriously, there could not have been a better topic for me.

Anyways, as for my week, it was actually really, really good. We were really able to get down to work with one of our 2 less actives. His wife and daughter are not members and he has had almost no contact with the church for 10 years. But he got really stoked about family history, so we took him to the chapel this week so that he could get started on his family history and we showed them the church and all that good stuff so that was fun :) The only problem there is that he works on Sundays, he works in a tienda type thing right in front of the Catholic church so people walk out of mass and just buy a ton of food and stuff so is the best day sales wise. But we're working hard.  

Progressing are basically the same people, Pedro came to church again, that's 3 times in a row, he even beat us there yesterday! We hope to put a fecha with him this week, I think he definitely could be baptized this month, it's just a matter of helping him understand the doctrine, even on a very basic level. But we're working hard with him. He has a desire to follow God, we couldn't even teach him this week because he wasn't home all week but he still showed up to church. Pretty cool.

Bacilio didn't come to church, we have to figure out what's going on there, he said he'd go last week. He just is having such a hard time with Joseph Smith and all that stuff, we got him to ask God in prayer at the end of our last cita and I could feel the spirit really well but we're just praying that he can recognize it.  

Also, there is another investigator that we've had on and off, it's really hard to find him. But he's now going through a difficult time in his life and he's really looking for help. He also came to church yesterday, he only stayed for Sacrament meeting but he came, by himself so that was super cool. He also knows a member.  The problem is his wife, she's Catholic so we're really praying for a miracle there! But I have seen many miracles and many people change so we're just being faithful!  

As for everyone else, there's a couple people but those would be the most positive. This week was really good, we had more member lessons than another area in my district. So that made us feel good. But yeah, things are going good, I know I'm going to leave this area strong with a good pool of investigators, officially one month from tomorrow I walk through the door of the house, kinda weird to think about, like, I am excited but I also just don't really believe it... I keep expecting President to call me and be like "PSYCH! You'll be here another year" but I don't think that will happen ha ha. But I'm feeling good. We're working VERY hard and starting to see fruit.

LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!!

Elder Westenskow

Working Hard and Being Obedient 6/3/2013

Hey there y'all!

Hows it goin'? Super good I sure do hope! Hope y'all had a great week in Texas and that the wedding was super duper good! You'll have to tell me all about it!  As for me, my week was pretty good! I'm older ha ha. We were going to order Dominos just to find out that they will only come to San Andres in the afternoon ha ha so that was a bummer but instead we went around and just bought a bunch of American food from all the dudes that went to the states to learn how to make food so it turned out really great actually ha ha.

Mom also asked how things are going with my comp, things are really good!  We're working super hard and starting to have success so its going well, we get along well and it's fun to joke and stuff.  It's going really well so that's really good!

As for us, we have basically the same progressing investigators. It was actually a really tough week, we taught a good quantity of lessons but just very few people are wanting to progress.  But Bacilio and Pedro are coming along quite nicely. We could only teach each of them once this week but they both came to church by themselves. We went to go pick Pedro up and his sister is like "yeah, he left like 10 minutes ago, he went to church".  And my comp is like "well I hope he meant our church" and sure enough he did. And Bacilio beat us and all of the members there! So they're going along very, very well. For some reason just neither of them want a baptismal date. So we'll see what we can do this week, we have some ideas to go out with members and all that good stuff.  So we're working hard and having a good time, trying not to think about home too much and it's going well :) 

As far as I go, I'm not baggy at all actually, like I'm stoked to go home and everything but it doesn't seem real still, maybe when I'm on the plane it will but until then...I do officially have 5 weeks left which is not very much at all. But it's all good. We're working harder than ever, being more obedient than ever, and having a great time.

Yesterday, the entire city of San Andres Xecul was in party mode. There were 4 different bands playing in the four corners of the park from 10am to 1am.  Overall, it was a pretty interesting day, a lot of walking :) But Hey, I really am happy, life is super duper good, I love it, I love the mission, I love my area, I'm just loving it! 

 

LOVE YOU ALL!!!!

Elder Westenskow!

Beginning My Last Change 5/27/2013

Hey there family!

As for y'all, sounds like everything is going well for you! Sounds like everyone is having a good time in their several activities and things they're involved in, life seems to be marching along quite nicely.  

As for us in San Andres things are going GREAT!!! We're really starting to see some success. Bacilio came to church again yesterday and he came all by himself! We didn't go pick him up AND he stayed all 3 hours. We also had another investigator in church, Pedro. We've been visiting him for a couple weeks and he told us he wanted to go to church so we went and picked him up and he went, stayed 2 hours. They both seemed to really like it. Bacilio is really asking a TON of questions about baptism and if he really has to be baptized again, but for some reason he doesn't want to commit to a fecha so we'll see what happens there, hopefully he decides pretty quickly, we are always telling him to ask God and that he'll be the one to answer but I think he's scared.  

Israel and Josue are both progressing as well, I feel like they are both seriously starting to doubt the church where they go and really thinking about what to do, they also don't want to commit to a fecha but we've had a couple of very powerful lessons with them. Hopefully they can keep going.

We also have a guy named Jose. He's SUPER positive. He's catholic but he says that he doesn't feel good going so he doesn't go. But he really likes what we teach but he is as of right now against the idea of changing his church but little by little :) 

Diego and his family are also progressing well, they invited us to lunch on Saturday and that was good, they like as well the message. He's reading the Book of Mormon so that's an important step, we're working hard there and hoping to help him come to church on Sunday.  

As you can see the investigators are good!  The rain has come again and we are getting wet daily but it's fun, always an adventure when it starts HARD to rain because we have to find somewhere to hide, preferably in someones house!  But we're doing good, happy, healthy, working, all of it.  Glad everything is great on that side of things. Today I start my last change in the mission, pretty weird feeling. Mix between being super excited and also a little nostalgic already. But enjoying every moment! 

LOVE YOU ALL!!!! HAVE A GREAT WEEK!!!!

Elder Westenskow