June 30-Happy 4th of JULY!!!

I can't even believe that it is already the 4th of July. This month I have been on my mission for 9 months, it is already half way over and I feel like I could do this for the rest of my life. Life is just so simple and focused. I absolutely love it. 

How are you all doing? What do you have planned as a family for the 4th of July? What are you going to do for the weekend? How is Grandma Emily doing? Have you all gone camping yet this summer? Hurry because summer is going to be over soon lol. Is it hot there?

Well this past week has been full of so many miracles. I can't even describe how many we have seen as a companionship. Yesterday one of our investigators A, who is only 11 got baptized. We are so happy for him! He is such an example to his family. We stopped by to see him on Sundayafternoon because we saw his mom at church. He asked us to be baptized and we told him we would love to help him prepare for his baptism! We have seen him every day for the past month, teaching him a little at time and helping him get a habit of reading in the Book of Mormon. Now he is reading a verse a day by himself and his older sister A (who is less active) is reading with him too. We are super excited to see his family continue coming to church so that they can all be an example to their dad who is not a member. Their family is amazing and in only the month that I have known them, I LOVE THEM. I feel the love that the Savior has for them!

On Sunday we also had 4 investigators at church which is the most we have had at church in two transfers. One our investigators named Ash who is 14 came to church without her family. She was a little scared to be there by herself but she really enjoyed it. Then she ended up coming back to the Youth Conference that night which was from 4 - 8 pm so that she could get to know more people in the church. She has been reading her scriptures every night before she goes to bed. We are so excited to be on this journey with her to be baptized on July 20th! 

F who is another investigator we have, says he doesn't have faith but he comes to church each week and we see him every day too. Little by little he tries to pray and understand the principles we are teaching. He loves the pictures in our pamphlets and we teach him using those. Then when his friends come by he shows them our pamphlets and tells them the story of what is happening in each one. He is amazing. He is in a wheel chair from an accident and can't hardly walk but with all of his problems he loves coming to church! The Lord has blessed us with the opportunity to teach him the Gospel!  He told the Elders on Sunday at church that we come see him every day at 5 pm and he can't wait to see us again on Tuesday. 

I experienced sorrow this week and heart break for an investigator named M. He was supposed to be baptized this past weekend but he had a little problem with depression and drank last Wednesday. He is super depressed about not being able to work right now. When he finally allowed us to come see him it was Friday night and he said he wouldn't ever drink again but that he needed to repent. As I explained the process to him I felt my heart breaking, not because he had to repent but because I felt as thought I failed him. I felt like I didn't teach him that doctrine clear enough and that if I could just help him be stronger than maybe he wouldn't have gave into that temptation. We are now stopping by his house every day that way we can see him and he knows that we are their for him. Just like the Savior we are here to help him walk this path. We are his guides, just like we say. We were so happy that he told us that he has been praying to ask God for forgiveness and that he came to church on Sunday.

Sunday, I was also asked to speak at church during Sacrament. I was super nervous and didn't have time to really study out my talk but I just keep reading things and little by little made my talk. So I tought I would tell you about it and try to translate it back to English for you. I talked about the Work of Salvation,which isn't just a work for missionaries but members as well. Well really everyone. 

I read a talk from the October Conference by Elder Ballard called Put Your Trust in the Lord which says, "My message this afternoon is that the Lord is hastening His work. In our day this can be done only when every member of the Church reaches out with love to share the truths of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. We need to work together in partnership with our 80,000 missionaries (one of them is me) now serving. " We have the truth as members, we have the happiness, we have the hope, we have the blessings from God. We have the best promise every that have ETERNAL LIFE. In 2 Nephi 31:20, it says, " Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life." So, as you read this think about who you can invite to hear more about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

 

In Luke 15:3-7 it says, " And he spake this parable unto them, saying, What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost." Who are the lost sheep? You, me, family, friends... We have all at one time been lost and needed help. So reach out and help someone.

We can all pray, fast, and then invite someone to hear more or to come back to church. The prophet Joseph Smith said, "After all is said and done, the most important work we can do is share the Gospel."

So that was my talk, people came up to me and said they loved it. Which was great because I was so worried that they wouldn't be able to understand me. Giving my talk really helped me to remember where I was 5 years ago. Not coming to church, not wanting anything to do with it, and not living the commandments. I had an interview with President Weidman this week, and we talked about it. I have been feeling like I still need to repent for things but I know I have already repented for them. When I talked to President, he just listened and then shared with me in 2 Nephi 4:16-31, as we were reading these verses together I felt like the last little bit of weight was removed. I haven't thought about it again. It just showed me how powerful the scriptures are.

I am just loving my mission family! I love the people and love the area!

Here are some pictures for this week.

Love Always, Hermana Weller

P.S. I hope that you all have a great weekend and that you all write back. Miss you like crazy!

June 23- Sister Temple Day & A Miracle Kind of Day

How are you?? I heard that I am an aunt again to a new little baby boy named Zander! How exciting!  I can't wait to meet the little guy in 10 months. 

How is summer going for everyone? Who is doing what sports? Have you all gone camping yet or no? If not, please promise you will at least do a camping trip in the backyard at Jessica's house or Grandma's. Summer here is super hot. Luckily last week there was a sale on ice cream so I was able to get 2 pints for $6! Such a good sale is all I can tell you. 

Last Monday, after I wrote home Sister J and I went to my favorite park in our area which is a water park for kids, but it also has picnic tables and grass to lay out on under the trees. We went there and relaxed, if I wasn't in a skirt I would have just laid down and took a nap but that wasn't possible. :) 

One of the sisters in our ward who is less active, is from Salvador and she taught us how to make pupusas. 

(A pupusa is a traditional Salvadoran dish made of a thick, handmade corn tortilla that is usually (stuffed) filled with a blend of the following: cheese cooked pork meat ground to a paste consistency refried beans, or queso con loroco-Wikipedia) She is so great, she showed us and then we made some and ate dinner with her. She is such an amazing person. She is a single mother with 3 kids and does people's nails and massages to pay for all the bills. We always have such a blast being at her house for dinner. 

 

Tuesday was SISTER TEMPLE DAY! It was so great. We went to the temple with the sisters that are in our area, so you will see a picture of some pretty great powerful sisters all here to do the Lord's work. When I entered the temple it was so great to find peace in a hectic world. It was such a peaceful experience. I prayed to feel at peace the entire time and I felt Dad there with me giving me a hug like he was pulling me towards him. The blessings of the temple are real. We don't get to go very often so getting the spiritual strength I needed for the day was amazing. 

I also went on exchanges with Sister L ( exchanges are when you switch companions for 24 hours). It was so great. I got to see another area of Los Angeles and see a recent convert from the other area. His name is N and his entire family is Catholic but he wanted so bad to be baptized and now his entire family is taking lessons. He started reading the Book of Mormon after he was baptized which was on May 25th and is going to finish it on July 20th! He is so great and so spiritually strong!

Now for the many many miracles that the Lord has blessed me and Sister J with! Last transfer (or the last 6 weeks) we have been doing everything possible..being exactly obedient, talking to 20 or more people a day, going to be on time, I mean everything. We have had so many people to talk with and have been teaching people but we had not had any baptisms. I was starting to think, it is okay, maybe I am only meant to plant seeds for people at a later date to come closer to God. I wasn't getting discouraged but I was starting to question if I was doing everything that I needed to be doing. Then the LORD blessed us this week with so many miracles, things that have never happened in my mission. 

On Thursday, we went to visit an 11 year old girl named N, we have been visiting her and teaching her how to read words in the Book of Mormon, so she can read better in school. Well we found out her mom was baptized when she was 10 but then stooped going to church. So we found out where they lived and started to visit their entire family. She has one other daughter who we meet named A and she was super excited to learn more too. We are now teaching their entire family and two of her daughters have accepted invitations from the Lord to be baptized this next month!

On the same day we stopped by to see our friend who we visit in a park next to a bus stop, we have been teaching him for about 3 weeks. We asked him to come to church and our Ward Missionary Leader came with us on Saturday to meet him and then he came and loved it. He asked if he could COME EACH WEEK. It was so great. Oh and he gave one of his friends our number and they called us and told us they wanted to meet with us too. 

The Lord is blessing us so much right now. I can't even wait to see what he blesses us with this week.

I found this scripture today and loved it. It pretty much summed up my week last week.

D&C 18:44..."And by your (my) hands I will work marvelous work among the children of men, unto the convincing of many of their sins, that they may come unto repentance, and that they may come unto the kingdom of my father." 

The Lord is real, the church is true, and I love sharing it with other people. 

I hope you all have a great week and I can't wait to get letters from everyone.

Love Hermana Weller

Oh...PS...I am going to start reading the Book of Mormon in Spanish on August 1st in case anyone wants to join me. My goal is to finish it by December 31st 2014. 

June 16-Happy Father's Day

How are you all doing? How was Father's Day weekend? I hope all the Father's in our family got my cards I sent last week. I hope that your little kids showed you some love Chris and Jason. 

Well this week I thought I would share what happened and then focus on something that has blessed my life so much. My father...the person who could give me blessings...and the one who prepared his whole life so that he could live with our Heavenly Father again.

So this week had it's ups and downs but mainly ups. We were so blessed this week to meet a young girl about my age who has a 9 year old son. She has been battling an addicition since she was 15 years old and we stopped by her house to talk with her mother about our free english classes and we eneded up meeting K! She is so amazing. She opened up to us so fast and told us about what had been happening in her life and how she wanted to change it. Afterwards we told her that we had a message that could literly change her life and help her change her life around. We have meet with her this week a few times and she is reading the Book of Mormon with her son every night before they go to bed. Her son is so excited. Tonight we are stopping by again so we can teach them how they can both receive answers to their prayers and start by asking if the Book of Mormon was written by the Prophet Joseph Smith. I am so excited to see her tonight!

This past week we had one of our best days yet together. It is so crazy but it happened on a Wednesday. We were out talking with people all day I can't even believe it. We talked with 53 people that day. That is the most people we have ever talked to in just one day. That same day we meet a lady named Y, we were going to her house to talk to her daughter. She answered the door and said her daughter wasn't there. At first she didn't want to talk to us but she opened up more and more. She told us how she felt like she always had to be a ROCK to her family. That same morning I was studying in the Bible and I read in 2 Samuel 22:2-3 which is when David was talking with the Lord..."and he said, The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer: The God of my rock: in him will I trust: he is my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my savior; thou savest me from violence." I was able to share this scripture with her and she cried and told us that she felt relieved. She has felt so much pressure on her shoulders for so long. We have an appointment to go and see her tomorrow and I can't wait to continue to share more with her. It was such an amazing experience.

I have also been thinking about DAD so much this week. I studied the priesthood and the Plan of Salvation this week to focus on him. I found such comfort in the fact that Dad is living in Paradise and that he prepared his whole life through different trails to live with our Heavenly Father again. I still remember the day I saw him all in white. He prepared for that day. He endured to the end so that he could receive every blessing possible that the Lord wanted to give to him. I know that as I try my best every day that I will be able to prepare myself to live with Dad and with Heavenly Father. This promise is possible because of the priesthood. All because the Lord loved us so much he provided us a way to always become clean again from our sins and come closer to him through the Atonement of his son Jesus Christ. I know Dad is in such an amazing place. He loves it. He loves us too but he died with the knowledge that we would all be together again. 

To sum it all up...this week has been amazing! We are already starting week 2 of this transfer which ends in the middle of July. So Hermana J and I will be celebrating the 4th together. Can't wait to wear red, white, and blue. Oh and see fireworks. I know childish but you all know how much I love the HOLIDAYS.

Anyways back to work I go. Write me by hand if you feel like it. I love reading your letters and getting your pictures. 

Love Hermana Weller

June 9-Zone Conference and Father's Day

How are you all doing? I have loved getting all of your emails this last week. I love reading about how you are all doing and what fun you are having! It sounds like it is finally summer there too maybe. What are you all going to do this week when school gets out?? I am sure the grand kids are going to CLAIM mom's house for the summer and move out when school starts again. The joys of being a wonderful grandmother! 

HAPPY FATHERS DAY to DAD!!!  That totally came up too fast. It was just mothers day...Dad is having a great fathers day in Heaven this year again. He is probably going to drive a fast cloud around a race track up there. :) Happy FATHERS DAY to Chris, Jason, Jeremy, and Jose! Make sure you show your kids how much you love them this coming Sunday! How was Stake Conference? I hope that it was great and that a message that was shared is helping you in some way. I know that every conference I go to here on the mission is exactly that way.

Transfers (changes) are happening tomorrow but Hermana J and I found out last night that "we are on fire" so we are both staying in our ward and with each other! I am so excited. Over the last 6 weeks we talked with 1,250 people in our little area! Can you believe that...our goal is to have 20 conversations a day to be obedient and we are doing 30 or more each day. We have already seen so many blessings from doing just that. 

This week has been yet another great week. Sometimes I wonder how we are doing so much but we are so excited for the work and so excited to wake up every morning and talk to people. I am so happy to serve the Lord day after day in this part of LA. We now wake up every morning with an attitude like I AM GOING TO CONQUER THE WORLD SO EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE GREAT. When we do that we have some of the best days ever. I can't even tell you how great our days are. Sometimes everything falls through and we have what looks like no one to teach but then we end up finding so many new people who want to learn. 

I also had one of my best companion study sessions this week that just showed me how much the Lord knows each and every one of us. We were kind of lost on what to teach one of our investigators (someone who is interested in finding out about the church but not yet baptized), we decided to role play a lesson with her. We started and said okay, in 10 minutes we are going to stop and evaluate how things are going and think about what we have learned. Well after 10 minutes we had learned so much! I was playing our 15 year old investigator and the questions I was asking my companion who was playing the missionary where exactly what the Lord wanted me to ask. My companion at first said I didn't learn anything but I was able to help her realize that we had. We learned that she didn't understand what the Savior had done for her. So when we went later that night to our appointment that is exactly what we focused on. It was such an awesome experience.

We also had my first ZONE Training this week. Where all of the missionaries in our area get together and do training. It only happens once every 6 weeks. It was so great and so inspired. The Sister Trainers taught part of it and explained that on the path back to the Lord, the Savior is always here for us. The missionaries are just here to uplift and strengthen the people, but that each person has to reach out and grab the Lord's hand themselves. It was so great. 

I am loving life literally! I have another 6 weeks here in my same area and can't wait to see who else we can find to help come closer to the Lord!

A birthday present from Mexico..it is a notebook with old school papers...

Love you a ton! 

Hermana Weller

June 2- June Already....What!

As you all remember yesterday Elder Ballard was here in our mission...who just happens to be one of the 12 apostles to the LORD. I am excited to tell you that it was one of the best days ever but leading up to Sunday...was hard. 

This week was one of the hardest weeks that I have had since I have been here just motivational wise but I keep reminding myself daily that it was because we were going to have an apostle of the LORD here. So Satan was just working harder than ever on our investigators and less active members. This week most of our appointments that were planned fell through for one reason or another but that didn't stop Sister J and I. 

This week was a week of miracles as well. We have been working hard to get more members out to lessons. We were able to invite one of our less active members come with us. He was baptized when he was 10 and then he fell away from the church, was in gangs, drugs, and jail...but he found his way back to the church through that experience though. He came to a lesson with us with an investigator whose boyfriend is trying to get out of the same situation and he bore his testimony on how much the GOSPEL has helped him in his life to get it back. It was so great. I was so excited and it just showed me how much I am thankful for the work the Lord has asked me to do at this time. 

This past week we also stopped and talked to a man that was standing outside of his apartment and we told him about LA English as we were on the way to an appointment. We invited him to bring a friend and he came to our class last Tuesday with his friend M. On Saturday they came again for LA English and we had a spiritual thought about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. As we were explaining Faith, Repentance, and Baptism, "M" quietly asked, ..."well when can I get baptized". We told him we could help him to prepare for his baptism through meeting with us. After we ended the spiritual thought we asked him to stay back and talk to us for a second. He did, and we asked him why he wanted to be baptized. He told us because he felt like angels were testifying to him that he needed to find the path that leads to God. So we talked to him so more and asked him if he would follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized on the 15th of June. He accepted and every since, we have meet with him every other day to teach him more about how he can make the changes he needs to make in his life to come closer to God. We also stopped by on Sunday morning to remind him about church and make sure he was up and getting ready. We knocked on the door and his sister told us he was sleeping and that she wouldn't wake him up. So we thanked her for her time and as we were walking to the car, I asked Hermana J to call him. She was a little nervous to call him but she did at first he didn't answer but then he called us right back! He told us he was coming and he would get ready just then. HE CAME TO CHURCH on Sunday and brought his friend P (the one we contacted about LA English). Persistence and Diligence pays off. If we would have just waited at the church for him he would have slept though it. 

Well Sunday with Elder Ballard, Elder Switzer, and Elder Acosta was amazing! Imagine 250 missionaries all in a chapel waiting to shake the hard of an apostle. It was such a spiritually packed room full of inspiration and answers to my questions. I have been working hard since I got here to the California Los Angeles Mission to prepare for Elder Ballard. I have been trying to pray more deeply and we have been exactly obedient and talking to 30+ people a day. On Saturday night we sat down and I finally wrote down my questions for the Mission Conference (yes our entire mission) we were going to have on Sunday. I wanted to write down my questions so that I would remember what they were and so I would be prepared for what I knew the Lord wanted to tell me. As I wrote down some of my questions I keep thinking...oh some of these are silly or I should already know this but I wrote them down anyways. Then, all of the speakers answered every question! It was the most amazing experience. Now my goal is to do that for each conference or training because I know that as I do that I will be preparing myself to be taught by the Savior though his chosen leaders! I can't wait for the next training or conference! 

One thing I learned yesterday was that our attitudes about the work can change our days. Sister Jarman and I are pretty happy people but just like anyone Satan sometimes gets to us. So we made a little motto to help us...Conquer the World because we have the Savior on our side! Now we look at it each day before we leave the house and when we have that mindset we conquer the world everyday...one person at a time and we meet or exceed the goals we have for that day. I just can't wait to get to work everyday. 

Some funnies from this week....

1) I can't run...yeah actually I can but the other day I tripped on nothing and bruised my hands. Yes I landed flat on my face. No joke.

2) We bought a huge jar of peanut butter and ate it in 2 weeks. I never realized how much I loved peanut butter!

3) When you wash a car in a skirt you can't just bend over to get things...lol. My skirt went flying up when I did. No bueno. 

Oh and I didn't take photos this week cause I am driving now...so I have less selfies but I hope you like the ones I am sending...I will write you all back next week. Thanks for writing but I am already out of time. Sometimes...

Hermana Weller

May 26-Happy Memorial Day

Not a lot of time to write this week. The library is closed and we are emailing from the Church in 30 minutes shifts. So I am pretty much out of time. First, let me just say THANK YOU for the Birthday Emails and the Birthday Packages this week. My district, was like wow Sister Weller you are loved, then they found out it was my birthday haha. So we celebrated all weekend. They all sang to me after District Meeting, then had a little birthday party with candy and cake on Saturday! So much fun! Birthday weekend!

This week, my companion Sister Y got transferred, so I became the Senior Companion. What!! I know. This week has been so great and so hard at the same time. I was super nervous when I got the call from Elder P that the Mission President wanted me to be the Senior Companion in our area of BG. I was so nervous that I didn't sleep well the night before Hermana Y left us but as I studied that day about putting your TRUST and CONFIDENCE in the Lord things got easier and easier. It seems everything that I have been studying lately has been about putting my TRUST in him and not in myself, with teaching, with contacting, and with talking to people in Spanish. As I have done that I have seen so many blessing this week. I have gained the confidence I need to be the Senior Companion and how I can continue to help Hermana J gain her confidence as well with the language and with teaching people.

This week has been so great . One of the many miracles we are seeing is that asking everyone for a referral or sometimes more than once really works. This week we asked a total of 85 times for referrals and we received 18 which exceeded our goal by 4. 

I am also seeing the BIG miracles in PASS ALONG cards. We may be asking for too many in the Need List each week but with everyone we talk to we have a goal to leave them with something. Lately, the Salt Lake City Temple Pass Along card has been getting us so many referrals with children. We gave a few out to a group of kids the other night and they asked us if that place was Heaven and how they could get there. They then gave us all of their parents information and we told them we would be back by in a few days to talk with them and their parents. When  you ask someone how they feel when they see the temple, we have heard, this is better than a castle, I want to live there with my family, is this Heaven?, how can I go there? and can you tell my parents about this right now. Pass along cards are so great. 

Each day we see so many miracles sometimes it is hard to remember them all. 

This next Sunday Elder BALLARD is coming to visit our mission so more news on that next week. Love you and again thank you for your love! Have a good BBQ today!

Hermana Weller

May 19-Angels in Los Angeles

This week has been so so so so so amazing. We are for sure Hastening the Work of Salvation, we are running from appointment to appointment and running to catch up to people to speak with them. Just image someone in a skirt running, funny sight. I think so! 

Elder Ballard is visiting our mission on June 1st, on Lisa's birthday! So to prepare for his visit we have been asked to deepen our prayers, speak with 10 people a day (have a gospel conversation with them) and also read our scriptures daily. So in order to do that, in our companionship since there are three of us, we talk with 30 or more people a day. It is so much fun. I love learning about people and finding out about their families! We have been so blessed from it! We have new people to teach, more people to visit, and we are finding people who want to get baptized and follow the example of Jesus Christ. I can't believe it took me so long to figure out why it was so important to talk with so many people. 

I love my companions so much and love the energy that we have together. We are Hastening the Work in our area and evaluating everything we are doing to try and get better and better! For each goal we are planning and making sure that we are doing a nightly evaluation of where we are and then making plans for the next day. We have also been using more and more effective ways of planning and we are getting better at it. I love my companions, I know I just said that but I really do. I have been learning so much for both Hermana J and Hermana Y. 

Oh I also had my first exchange this week (with Sister L she is a Sister Trainer). So I stayed with my companion Hermana J and then we got a new companion for 24 hours named Hermana L. It was such a great day! I also DROVE in Los Angeles. That was so crazy after 9 months of not driving. Watch out California...just joking it was so easy.

We also had so many miracles this week from being obedient in all things. This weekend we had 3 investigators at church! P and her daughters came to church for the first time (she has a baptism date for June 1st). M C also came to church, she currently doesn't have a baptism date but we have seen so many changes in her since we started teaching her at the beginning of the transfer. 

I guess I should also explain the title...Angels in Los Angeles! We had a member come with us to a visit and he bore his testimony and explained how when our investigator let us come to her home day after day she was allowing the Lord's Angels to come and visit her. He bore the most beautiful testimony ever and invited our young MC who is 15 to be his spiritual daughter, him and his wife. They are so amazing and work with the Youth in our ward. Then she came to church this weekend for the first time. We were so HAPPY to see her there. 

I have never been happier to serve the Lord! Each day I wake up with such enthusiasm to get out and talk to people and find the people that the Lord has prepared. I love it! I love my area and my ward and Los Angeles! 

Hermana Weller

May 12-Miracles Happen Everyday!

Hello!

This past week we had a Zone Conference (that is where a lot of missionaries from different areas get together to meet with the Mission President). We talked about DILIGENCE as a missionary and in our lives. It was such a great conference. I was so inspired afterwards. We learned a lot about Making Goals (how to set them, how to plan, and then how to achieve them). Elder Ballard of the 12 Apostles, promises us that if we can perfect this process we will be successful at any thing we put our minds too. So I plan on perfecting this because I want to own my own business and prefect that! I also want to be successful on my mission as well. Everything I am learning here will only help me afterwards too though.

My companions and are unstoppable. We are great together and so obedient to the guidelines and mission rules. I have never seen so many blessings from being obedient. Before I got here I always had a hard time getting up in the morning but know I walk up every morning at 6 AM so we can go running before 6:45 and then get ready for the day. I have never found it easier to get out of bed. I know that as I continue to do this and continue to be obedient that we will SEE SO MANY BLESSINGS and MIRACLES!

Here are just a few that I can't believe happened!

As a mission we have a goal that each person needs to contact at least 10 people every day. That means that we have to have a meaningful conversation with them. We have also been working on asking people for
referrals to friends or family that they might think would be interested in our message. This week the LORD blessed us because we talked with 187 people and out of these people we got 23 referrals! That is the most I have ever received in my entire mission! We had one family that gave us 7 people who may be interested in one night! Now we are working with them to teach them!

This past Friday our ward had a Mother's Day Dinner and we invited so many less active members and people who are learning more about the church and a lot of them came! It was so great to see them at Church and at an activity where they could get to know more people. I am also making more of an effort to remember peoples names. That is the worst when you forget and they just told you like 2 minutes ago. The worst! So I am working on that because when you talk too so many people you just have too. The members here are great. I am trying to remember who they are better and better each day. It will come. 

I should probably tell you more about our area too. Our ward has 3 sets of missionaries and so our ward is split into 3 different sections. Our section is probably about 4 miles long and 3 miles wide. So it is pretty small but there are so many people who live in that area! Each morning when we go running, or afternoon when we talk to
people on the street, we hardly ever run into the same person. Which is great because well we have 40,000 people to each missionary here in our mission. We are in a suburb area I think of the Bigger LA area. I am in an area or city called BG. It is kind of towards the NE part of our mission boundaries. We are about 30-40 minutes from the Mission office by car.

Our District (which is just a small group of missionaries in the same area) is all the missionaries in our ward. In Ecuador my District, was missionaries from 3 different wards. So that just tells you how many missionaries are in each ward. I love it though. We have a car, but I did buy a bike this past week (I couldn't pass, it was a Schwinn for $120 with a helmet). We might have to use it because we are already pretty low on miles for our car. We live in a small house that has a living room, kitchen, bathroom, one bedroom and that is pretty much it. Hermana Y and I share a bunk bed. It is pretty great.

My companions are amazing and they keep me in check on my diet plan...really they just help me. I have been drinking FLAX milk which is so good. It is about $3.50 a box but it lasts about a week so it is
great! I have also been doing green smoothies daily for breakfast or lunch and then salad for lunch with chicken. At dinner we get feed by the members in our area, so we eat a lot of beans, tortillas, and soups...you know the normal Hispanic foods. I love it though. I am just learning to say no more often.

I am not sure what else to talk about this week. Know that I love you all and that I would love to get letters from you. Even the ones you send in the mail. We get mail once a week here so it is super fast and
I promise to write back too.

Love you a ton!

Hermana Weller

Overlooking the area

The church building we have church at

Hermana Y and J

Our bunk bed

May 5- My LA Mission

May 5-

First, thank you so much for taking me to the airport, Jason, Mom, Lisa and Jessica and the kids the first time. I got my release date it is 4/28/15 so I hope you will all be ready when I come home lol. Don't worry it will go by so fast I am sure!

Let me start by telling you about my mission.

• It is the smallest mission geographically! 
• We speak 8 different languages. 
• We have our own temple square literally (it has the temple, visitor center, family history library, temple housing, the mission presidents house, and temple presidents house). So no joke, little temple square.
• I love it!

The temple was so pretty our first night here. We did a temple walk and walked around it. The first night here, I stayed in a mansion in Beverly Hills with a member. (That might explain some of the pictures I took). It was super nice and they were such a great family.

On Tuesday, I woke up early and went to my first transfer meeting and got my two companions!!! Hermana Y and Hermana J! Hermana Y is from Salt Lake and Hermana J is from Arizona! They are two great sisters and we are having such a blast together. We get along so great and see miracles because of our obedience! Something fun we are doing this transfer (6weeks) is we are celebrating all of the holidays in 6 weeks. So yesterday was the 4th of July and today is Cinco de Mayo!! Doesn't sound like so much fun! I can't wait to have Christmas in May. Why not!!??? Oh, we also live in a little house that is nice, me and Hermana Y share a bunk bed, love it! I got the bottom bunk. For the first 3 nights we all sleep in the living room and I slept on the
couch. It's the mission life. :)

I got assigned to an area called BG. There are 3 sets of missionaries including us for this one ward which
is a Spanish Ward. It is so great and we have so much find locating the less active members and helping them get back to church. We are in a car because trio-companionship can't be on bikes. So we go running
every morning to make up for that.

Well, I will not ever second guess my decision to serve because Los Angeles is where I am supposed to be. I know it because we see so many miracles daily and I MEAN daily. My first day I meet the most amazing man named Leo. He told us that he felt like his sadness was being lifted as we talked to him about the Plan of Salvation. You could just see the hope in his eyes light up. I am not sure what will happen with him but I know that the Lord prepared him to talk to us. He even said it himself, there was something that was holding me back from leaving and going home, and I didn't know what it was until I talked with you. It was so great to practice and talk with people and build that confidence that I needed to find again so that I could get back out
here and do the work.

Hermana Y, Hermana J and I were tracking on Wednesday night and we tracked into a man named Rico, who was a studying minister. He started to ask us questions about who was Joseph Smith and what we thought the qualifications were to get into heaven. He told us what he believed and as he talked I kind of feared talking to
him. He already knew so much and what was it that he wanted to hear is what I kept asking myself in my head. Little by little I could feel the spirit leaving but then I prayed to Heavenly Father, I asked him to help me to gain my confidence and get back to the basics. I asked him to help me to feel his power so that I could bear my testimony of what I know is true and in a way that he could understand. When I did that, that fear left. Then that same night I read D&C 84:88, which says "... whoso receiveth you, there I will go also..." It was such a testimony to me that I need to remember that the LORD is with me wherever I go and that as I speak with confidence and bear my testimony that I don't need to be afraid. I just need to put my trust in him.

I also experienced my first person walking up to us and asking if we sent him a text message, which I at first thought was super weird but then I looked at his phone and realized that a set of missionaries sent him a text message from Mosiah 18:13 and he saw our name badges and wanted to know if we had sent it. We told him it wasn't us but that it was the missionaries. We asked him if we could get his information so we could send the missionaries to his house. It was so amazing and gave use a great way to help our investigators even when we can't see them everyday because they cancel on us or have to work. So this week we are going to start sending spiritual thoughts to them on a daily basis. To let them know we love them.

My amazing family this first week has been amazing. I am so thankful for this mission, and the time I have to serve the LORD!

Hermana Weller