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

Feeling Good and Working Hard 5/20/2013

Dear Family,

 

As for us, again not a whole ton to report, the people that were progressing have stopped progressing so that's not too fun. It's just really hard to get someone really truly committed to continue learning about something they've never heard of, from 2 foreigners, and especially since the church isn't even in San Andres. But hey we climbed the mountain contacting and that's where I took the photo.  

 

However, we did find some people that it seems like the Lord has really been preparing them so we're stoked about that. First off is Diego and his family of 4 kids. He basically told us that he's been in his church for 22 years and he's really disappointed and doubtful about the way that things work there but he doesn't have anywhere to go so he hasn't moved. So we will give him somewhere to go ;-)  But really it seems like the Lord is preparing him.  

 

Also, is Juan Pablo who was really piqued by the idea of the Book of Mormon which is the first person here in San Andres that we've found that has actually understood the importance of another book of scripture. So we're pretty stoked about that. Just a matter of following up :)

We have a few other people that we're working with but they would be the most positive finds this week.  I know this is super to the basics and all of that but don't worry, I'm feeling good, working hard, being healthy, all of the above :)  Just not a whole lot to say, things are moving, slowly but they're moving.  

 

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

Elder Westenskow

Investigators in Xecul 5/13/2013

Dear Family,

 

I think that all business was taken care of yesterday so that can be left to one side. So I'll try to tell y'all about a few of our investigators.

We have Bacilio, he came to church yesterday!!!!!!!!!!!!! We had an investigator in church and there's no chapel in the whole town, we have to go to the next town over! So we were pretty excited about that, he really liked church though, he was originally going to only stay 1 hour but ended up staying 2 so that was sick. He's super cool and reading and all of it, he didn't want to accept a fecha last week but after church we think he can accept one!  

Next we have Martin Sajche and his family. He's super interested in Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon but also a little hesitant. Normal. He's really interested in coming to know if Joseph Smith was actually a prophet  and so we're going to go watch the Joseph Smith movie on Saturday with him and his family. Excited for that.  

Pedro Hernandez, I don't know him my comp found him on divisions but apparently he accepted the invitation to be baptized in the first cita, and it was a contact, so that's a good sign.  

Last we have Israel and Josue, Israel is the president of the youth for the evangelical church but he accepted the invitation to be baptized if God answers his prayer so that's a good sign :) 

So yeah, I know that this isn't a whole lot of information but I talked to y'all yesterday so this is the basic breakdown of the area for those who weren't on the phone 

 

LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Elder Westenskow

Working Hard in Xecul 5/6/2013

Dear Family,

 

I think this email is going to be kinda short, it was a good week, we're just working with a LOT of new people so it's hard to give a lot of detail about so many people ha ha. But we're working VERY hard and echaring fuego as we say and stuff is going well. 

But about the people you do know about, Rudy. He's still kinda positive but it's just really hard because of his "calling" and he has the catholic teachings SUUUUUUUPER ingrained in his head.  But we're teaching his cousin as well, Israel.  He's the young mens president of the evangelical church but he's more positive than Rudy. But even more positive than Israel is his brother, Josue. He's actually super interested, we met him when we went to teach Israel and he just jumped in and started asking a bunch of questions, really cool. 

We also have another guy named Pedro who is interested, he accepted the invitation to be baptized but he didn't want to put a fecha, he really distrusts ALL the churches in all the world and he wants to make sure this is the truth, but he's cool, we'll see what happens there :)

Funny story, we were contacting and we told this dude that God had called a prophet in these days and he was like "no he hasn't". And we're like, "why do you say that?" and he's like "well, there's a bible verse where John says that he had the last gift so that means that there are no more prophets" so we showed him Amos 3:7 and Hebrews 13:5 and asked what he thought (he also didn't know where that specific bible verse was and I have yet to find it since he told us on Wednesday) and he just stuck to it so I was like "well, I know that God has called prophets because I've asked him and he's answered me that it's true" and the dude is like "Well, I don't believe you" and I kinda laughed on accident at that but we just arrived to the point that we had different beliefs and if he ever needed help chopping wood we could help ha ha. Funny story for the week. 

LOVE YOU ALL!!!! I'll talk to you on Sunday!!!!

Elder Westenskow