So the best thing in the world happened!!!!!! It has been downpouring for the last two days!!!!!! GO KERN VALLEY!!!!!!! So we woke up for General Conference yesterday and it was raining cats and dogs! I was so excited!!!!! Rain and thunder and lightning everywhere! It was the best!
So General Conference. Where do I begin? First off, this honestly has been the most amazing thing in the world. I love conference so much. I love hearing from the prophet and the apostles. I LOOOOOOVED President Russell M. Nelson's talk. It was so inspiring! It pumped me up for the next ten years. It really inspired me as a missionary to go teach fearlessly. I trust 100% in the message I teach because I have found out for myself that it's 100% true. I have seen how deeply the Lord has touched my life because of my willingness to listen and follow Him. And so with this knowledge, I shouldn't be shy and I shouldn't be afraid to talk to people and share this message. This world is falling away from God. This world is becoming so increasingly evil and it's easy to see the front lines of the battlefield. We literally are fighting in a war and we cannot afford to turn our backs to the enemy. And so President Nelson really helped me understand why it's important to stay strong and teach fearlessly. We are fighting on the winning side and as long as we stay true to ourselves and our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, we know we will succeed.
Anyways.... my week was pretty great. It was really stressful just because we've been getting Chris and Kat ready for their wedding... and IT'S FINALLY HERE! We decorated the cultural hall in wedding decorations and we are getting them hitched today at 2!!!!! WE ARE SO EXCITED!!!!!! Then this Saturday, Chris is finally getting baptized!!!! He's so so sooooooo excited!!!!!! This is gonna be the best week ever.
We also stopped by Kaisa's house this week and figured out the root of her problems. We were able to address it and get her back on board towards baptism. We cried together and talked together and got everything sorted out. She watched all of conference as well and she cried because she was so deeply touched. My heart is full. My heart is so full. Nothing anyone said before I came on my mission could prepare me for the rigors of missionary service. I have never felt so much heartache in my life until that moment when a beloved investigator almost tells us that she doesn't want to learn anymore. That heartache is so deep and so personal and it cuts me to the very core. I have no words to describe the waves of sorrow that swept over me in that moment. But I am so grateful that the Lord saw it fit to help us determine her concerns and address them in a way that touched her heart and softened it once again... and there is so much joy in my heart. Exceedingly wonderful sweet peaceful joy. This must be how our Heavenly Father and Savior feel when we change and turn our hearts back to them.
Anyhow.... I love you all so much! And I'll have to send all these pictures of the wedding next week :) But have a good week! And keep my wonderful cousin Joslin and my Uncle Steve in your prayers as they battle with cancer and leukemia. I love you both so much and keep you in my prayers daily. <3
P.S. I got to hold a gecko! They really do lick their eyeballs!
That was the best news ever. I hope I'm with this woman through all the holidays. She's the best.
So Mondayyyyyyyyy! Wedding bells chimed, vows were said, and Kat and Chris were married!!!!!!!! Holy cow they couldn't be happier! Being a bridesmaid was the very best. It was so much fun even though we worked our tails off. Holy. Moly. But the wedding was beautiful and we had so much fun! Ever since the wedding, they told us that they feel happier because they're on the right path and know that they aren't living in sin :) That's the best feeling in the world. There was cake shoving, lots of dancing, and man.... that was a highlight of my mission.
And then when it was all over, Chris and Kat came up to us and thanked us and said, "we literally couldn't have done any of this without you two." TEAR. JERKER. Life is just so wonderful. Missions are wonderful. Sorry guys. I'm never coming home.
Hiccup of the week: Sister Ashburn misplaced her jump drive with 1500 pictures (all of her mission pictures) on it on Tuesday. A member found it for us on Thursday and boy did we cry happy tears. It had been a rough couple days for us. Note to self: always have a back up picture drive.
OH! We found a vinegaroo spider in our house. Look it up. It's a nasty little thing. And we saw lots of black widows too. It's spider season...... and I'm not happy about it. But hey, milestone for Sister Weaver: I squash spiders. Granted, I only squash spiders smaller than my hand.... otherwise I use the car.... and cockroaches are fast... Bugs are just nasty. I'll be so glad to come back to Idaho and deal with my normal bugs. Hobos! WATCH OUT!!! (And no Kristin, not homeless people)
Oh speaking of homeless...
(to the tune of party in the USA)
Hopped off the plane in Bakersfield,
with my 50 pound luggage.
Welcome to the land of oil rigs (whoa),
I'm not gonna fit in.
Jumped in the APs van for the first time,
looked to my left and I saw the Bakersfield Sign,
This is all so crazy! Everyone looks so homeless!
My tummy's turning and I'm feeling kinda homesick,
too much pressure and I'm nervous,
But then the APs turned on the radio,
and an EFY song was on! And EFY song was on!
(to be continued when we think of a chorus)
Yup. Life rocks in the mission field. *In Rapunzel's voice* I'M NEVER GOING BACK!!!!
So for the rest of the week we struggled to find people to teach. People really don't care about the Gospel. :/ But we kept our heads high becauseeeeeeeeee.....
WE HAD A BAPTISM!!!
So Saturday, Chris got baptized!!! He was so excited and so nervous. Oh my goodness! He was so happy! He's been waiting for this for so long! When he came out of that water, he looked totally new. He just had that glow. And then we saw him confirmed a member of the church on Sunday :D And now he's preparing to receive the Priesthood :D :D :D He's so excited to get the Priesthood! It's amazing to see the progression that people have once they have the gospel in their life. I asked him afterwards what was the biggest change he's felt from his experience.... and he said, "at the beginning of the year I was thinking about only myself. I wanted to drink and get promoted at work. Now, all I think about is the gospel, my wonderful family and the baby on the way. Nothing else matters."
Life is perfect. And Sister Ashburn and I spoke in Sacrament meeting yesterday :)
Anyways. LIFE IS GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!
Love you all!!
Love Sister Weaver
October 19, 2015 ~ Mudslides
This week has been an adventure!! First off: get on the internet and look up Tehachapi Mudslide. yeah. That happened this week. We've had crazy rainstorms here for the last week and it caused that mudslide and half-buried semis and cars on the freeway! CRAZY STUFF!! So they closed HWY 58 through Tehachapi and redirected ALL OF THE TRAFFIC through Lake Isabella and the dreaded canyon drive. So all week, the drive has been super congested with traffic and it's kinda weird for this little area. But hey! I got to see my lightning storms which made me the happiest Sister Missionary on the planet!
Also! This week was the Primary program and it was so cute! I get a kick out of those kids who come up to the microphone and breathe into it for 20 minutes and those kids who sing on the top of their lungs to outshine their friends, and also those squirrely kids they put on the front row who pick their nose and won't sit down. Yup. I love the Primary program. It reminds me of Calli and I in primary and then watching Connor in the program later. Those good ole days!
So we went up to Wofford Heights for a recent convert lesson on Tuesday and we got there right after Brother Watson had just killed a tarantula and the kids were still screaming. Yup. It's tarantula season in Kern Valley (and I'm mailing myself to Alaska).
We also went over to a new family in the ward's house and they let us hold their parrot! It was so cute! And as soon as it saw Sister Ashburn it did everything it could to get to her and when it got to her, IT CUDDLED INTO HER HAIR!!!!! I wish we would've had our cameras!
Anyways, I'm not gonna write a ton this week due to lack of brain.... but something that happened this week was that Kaisa lost her 8-year-old grandson in a car accident. Please PLEASE keep her in your prayers. She lost a grandson last year to the Choking Game and this was her last grandson. But when we went to see her last night and check up on how she was doing, she was pretty broken up, but she knows that he's okay. And she told us that because she's been taking the lessons, she's been able to look forward with faith. That's a huge step for her! We're hoping that this will bring her closer to the Gospel and the waters of baptism.
I love her. I really do love her. She needs this Gospel. Everyone does, but especially her right now.
Love Sister Weaver :)
P.S. I went to the Onyx store again this week JUST so I could get my Idaho Spud Bars :3 yup. Life is great :D And I gave a talk in Sacrament last week and a brother in my ward made a car decal out of something I said in my talk. MY WORDS HAVE BEEN IMMORTALIZED!!!!!
October 26, 2015 ~ Blessings upon Blessings!
Well your prayers for Kaisa have paid off this week <3 Thank you all for praying for her! So we went over on Tuesday to teach Kaisa and she's been struggling with understanding the lessons and such, so we've started over on them one last time. So we taught her the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ with Brother Moffatt. We went on a "scripture chase" throughout the Bible and Book of Mormon to show her that the prophets of the Old and New Testament and the prophets in the Book of Mormon all testify of Jesus Christ and his divine mission and the mission of his servants, the prophets. And so as we were going through the scriptures and the lesson, Kaisa asked tons of amazing questions that Brother Moffatt jumped to answer. Kaisa just loves the way Brother Moffatt teaches and quite frankly, I do too!
So when we started teaching her about Joseph Smith and how he was called of God to restore the Church of Jesus Christ upon the earth, she started crying. She told us she had never felt so happy and excited about something. She looked right at me and told me, "I want to know it's true. More than anything. What do I need to do to know it's true?" So we taught her to pray and read her scriptures and asked her to pray to know that Joseph Smith was a true prophet and to ask Heavenly Father while she was at it if the Book of Mormon was true as well... Because what it all boils down to is if you love Christ, you want to know everything you can about his divine mission. And Heavenly Father loves us so much that he not only provided prophets in the past to guide the people in Israel and in the Old and New Testament, but he also provided prophets in the Ancient Americas too. So what is the Bible? It's a compilation of books that Prophets of Old wrote to guide the Children of Israel, and all who would listen, to follow our Heavenly Father and His son, Jesus Christ. The prophets wrote down HOW to, WHEN to, WHERE to, and everything we needed to know. Same thing with the Book of Mormon. Prophets here in the Ancient Americas wrote down the same things, and then it was later abridged into one book by a prophet named Mormon. And the best part is that the Bible and the Book of Mormon together is a strong witness and testimony that Jesus is the Christ and that He lives! And so we testified to Kaisa that if the Book of Mormon was true, it meant that Joseph Smith was a true prophet because he translated the Book of Mormon by the power of God (because he literally only had a 3rd grade education), which also means that the church that Christ established while He was on the earth has been restored to it's original state by the Power of God. That's what it boils down to.
So after we left she prayed. And then we came back a couple days later and she sat us down and she showed us her Book of Mormon. There were tear stains all over the sticky notes that we had put on her scriptures. And she told us this: "Sisters, I prayed because I wanted to know that these things were true. And I felt that they are because of the truthfulness in your eyes and in your actions. So I prayed, and I felt this overwhelming, overpowering, and empowering feeling of love and joy that all I could do is cry. And now I know that this is the truth that I've been looking for."
Miracles and blessings happen when you seek the truth from your Heavenly Father. He loves us so much!
So that was one highlight of my week. THe other was that Chris received the Aaronic Priesthood yesterday!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! And he's going to the temple to do baptisms next month AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!
Super good week! Sister Ashburn and I have been really really sick this week too. So continue to keep us in your prayers :) Love you all!
And just to let each and every one of you know, I know that the church that Christ established while he was on the earth is back on the earth today in it's fullness and that church is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. And I know this is a bold statement, but it's the absolute 100% truth. Find out for yourself and experiment because I know it's true with all my heart and I will forever stand by it and I will never move. And I know that you will be the happiest you've ever been if you do.
Love, Sister Weaver