We serve a God of miracles!

                                        Cool sunset, cool selfie idea, cool comp, cool car. 😎

Hello All! This week was incredible!! It was my last full week in the mission field. I can't believe it! 

Some highlights:

We had zone conference and it was incredible!! The whole theme was "The Divine Companionship". We talked a lot about the gift of the Holy Ghost and His role in the work. We talked about how important it is that we're united as companions and with the Holy Spirit! It was amazing. I learned A LOT. And it proved fruitful for the rest of the week!

We visited a member family and asked for referrals and we were referred to their neighbors who ARE FROM CUBA!! Cool! The Diaz-Rios family. We love them so much. They came to church yesterday and really enjoyed it too! Brother Diaz-Rios has no religious background, but he said that he enjoyed the environment, teachings, and company!

We actually had 13 investigators at church! We had A LOT of new faces at church on Sunday, and church was PERFECT. All of our investigators loved it! I couldn't be happier!

We also found 13 new investigators throughout the week too! 

We have an investigator who is flying through the lessons, but we've been concerned recently that he's being convinced and not converted. We hadn't seen any sense of penitence in him and we sought revelation on what we could do. On Sunday he came to church!! After church he called us and asked us to come over. It was a little inconvenient, but we felt that it was important. When we got there he told us about a lot of the feelings he had at church and said that he's ready to start the repentance process and be all in with the gospel!! He also asked us for a priesthood blessing and it was a really sacred experience. I'm absolutely elated at his progress and I know that this is a result of the Spirit working in His heart! The divine companionship - 1, Satan - 0.

We've also started a 100 day Book of Mormon reading challenge in the mission!! How neat!

I could go on and on with other miracles and tender mercies we've seen but I think this must suffice. I testify that miracles have not ceased, that the Lord lives, and that if we will seek to be worthy of the gift of the Holy Ghost and follow the promptings we receive, the Lord will do His work before our eyes.

Love you all!

--

Elder Weiler

SUPER MISSIONARIES

This week was incredible!! THE LORD HEARS AND ANSWERS PRAYERS. Elder Moyo and I have been praying to be guided to those who are prepared to be baptized RIGHT NOW! And boy we have! I'm not sure if Newcastle is ready for all these baptisms!! hahah

I had my final interview with President Thompson and it was wonderful. I felt so much joy as I reflected on my mission and the lessons I've learned. This is the greatest thing I've ever done in my life! I'm grateful for you all and your support!!

--

Elder Weiler

My Home is My Newcastle (Newcastle Strikes Back!)

Hello everybody! Sorry it's been so long since I wrote an email!!

Since I last wrote I've been transferred from Berea! I'm serving again in my first area, Newcastle!! In the mission, we refer to a missionary's first area as his "birth area" and his last as his "dying area". I was born and I'm dying in Newcastle!!  My new companion is Elder Mathamsanqa Moyo from Bulawayo, Zimbabwe and he's a superstar! He's been on mission for 6 months and he's an incredible missionary! I love that he cares so much about the work and that he really desires to be obedient! We get along great! 

It was hard to leave Berea, but it's been wonderful serving in Newcastle again!! I learned so much in Berea. Elder Jones and I were released from our assignment and he is training a new missionary! I'm so grateful for the experiences I had in Berea! I know that the Lord built me up and molded me by His Spirit into the man that He wants me to be! 

When I told the bishopric that I was leaving, Bishop Reabow said "WHAT! I can't sustain that. I need to talk to your mission president!" hahaha I have loved working with him so much, I can proudly say that I did the finest member missionary work of my whole mission in Berea. We saw so much growth in the members and in the ward as a whole, I pray that they might stay changed and stay missionary work focused! 

Going from Berea to Newcastle was quite the jump. I went from 200 sacrament attendance to 65 hahaha. It's good to be back in a branch. I feel like I've come home, the members have received us so well! I'm surprised that everybody remembered my name! Throughout my mission I always wished that I had been better at working with members when I served here, and now I get the chance to come back and do it! We've spent lots of time tracting and teaching members and less actives this week, all in search of the Lord's elect (Doctrine and Covenants 29:7)! We've seen miracles as we have!! 

a few examples:

We planned to go tracting in an area called Fairleigh the other day, but as we were driving there, we didn't feel right about it. So we pulled over and prayed for guidance, we felt impressed to go tract another area and we found several potential investigators, including two father led families!! 

This weekend we taught a counselor in the branch presidency and his family and we asked for referrals, he gave us the information for his less active brothers and sisters. Yesterday we had an hour an felt that we should go visit one of them. We only had time to visit one, so choosing the right person was imperative. Elder Moyo prompted revelation when he asked "Who do you feel we should go to?". When he did I sought for the Spirit and felt strongly that we ought to call one of his sisters. So we did! And they let us come over. During our visit we were blessed with three things:

1. We met her sister and brother in law who are expecting their second son. Her sister is a genius when it comes to the Bible. We shared with her the Book of Mormon and invited her to learn more of the restored gospel! 

2. We found that she and her husband have not been to the temple and that they desire to go!

3. She told us that her kids have been begging to go back to church and to be baptized!! She said that they've been praying to go back. We made a return appointment to teach them and prepare them for baptism! 

(4. They invited us over for lunch so they can make us authentic indian food)

Throughout the visit I felt so strongly that this family was prepared to come back to Church at this time! I know that we were directed by the Lord as an answer to prayers! I'm SO excited to see them progress! 

I'm writing this long email and I hope it makes up for the lack of others. 

The Lord is anxious to see His work go forward, and when we counsel with him and put ourselves in place to do something, the windows of Heaven open and we receive His direction. 

Last week we spent a day with all the new missionaries coming into the mission (14 of them!) and I did my best to teach them that "this is the Lord's work and we do it His way." I know that this is true and I know that miracles have not ceased! The Restoration of the gospel is rolling forth and ours is the responsibility to make it known unto all the inhabitants of the Earth! How great is our calling!

I love you all and I pray that the Spirit may guide you to those who are in need of your testimony.

--

Elder Weiler

    Before transfers, we woke up early and watched the sunrise at the beach with a senior couple!

           Elder Jones and I also climbed the Drakensberg Mountains with President Thompson!

Blessed Beyond Belief!

                                        Exchange with Elder Mnisi from South Africa!

Wow, time is FLYING over here. I can't believe how fast this transfer with Elder Jones is going.  It's been an INCREDIBLE transfer and I'm learning so much about myself and about the Lord and His work. I've said it a million times, and I'm going to say it again, but I never cease to be amazed at the growth and the knowledge that I've accumulated throughout my mission. There's so much more to life than what we see right now, physically. There's so much that can't be know until we look heavenward and seek inspiration.

I wish I could summarize all the blessings and miracles that we've seen but I can only write but an hundredth part of them! These past few weeks have been spectacular!! 

George Q Cannon once said "above all it is most important that a man know himself". I've been fascinated by that quote since the day I read it. On mission I have sought to come to really know myself. Recently I've been privileged to learn about myself. I've been able to establish patterns of what makes me feel good and what makes me feel chaos, what makes me upset, how I can feel better, etc. It's been really uplifting and a blessing to our companionship! 

OH BOY THE WORK HERE IS MILK AND HONEY. Elder Jones and I have been struggling the past week or two because it seems like our investigators keep dropping off the face of the Earth. We struggled a lot with discouragement and disappointment. The other night, we sat down and laid out our plans, we plead for guidance, and searched for things we can do to improve. Mosiah 2:24 says "he (the Lord) doth require that ye should do as he hath commanded you; for which if ye do, he doth immediately bless you" I KNOW THAT'S TRUE because the next day we found so many new investigators and so many powerful people who are prepared for the gospel! This whole weekend has been the same! We ended up finding 12 new investigators in a few days! We had two families and three other individuals come to church yesterday! I wish I had time to write about every person we're teaching because they're all so incredible! 

Yesterday we walked somewhere between 3-4 miles to church with some investigators who can't afford public transport and we had a great time! We sang hymns and greeted EVERYONE along the way! It was awesome! 

All in all, I'm doing so great. The Lord is so good. I'm so grateful to be on mission and to have these sacred experiences, I wouldn't want to be anywhere else! 

Church is true!!

--

Elder Weiler

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

South Africa Durban Mission

                                                               Downtown Durban

                   The district, eating schwarmas (Durban is the Celestial kingdom for Indian food!!)

The mission is getting a new range of bakkies (trucks) called Ford Rangers are they're soooo nice.

 This is Mayville, a township outside of Durban that we do a lot of work it. We call it "Mayville of Dreams"

                 Elder Jones and I found sushi and it was the best day ever. It's been two years...

"Sorry guys, my deaf friends" + Learning at the feet of an Apostle of the Lord

                                                          Office Action pic!!!!

The past two weeks have been INCREDIBLE! I wasn't able to write last week because we didn't take a p-day (the office is super jealous) (I use the word "super" too much. It's super annoying.)

Last week our mission learned at the feet of Ronald A. Rasband. It was an incredible experience! He initially came for a Priesthood Leadership Training, but we booked two hours to see him. He spoke about his recent general conference talk "Let the Holy Spirit Guide". We also had the chance to ask him some questions about missionary work! As he spoke I felt a clear confirmation that he is an apostle of Jesus Christ; while the same message taught that I am a witness and an agent of Jesus Christ while I'm set apart as a full time missionary! 

I never cease to be amazed at the growth that I've seen in myself throughout my mission. My "greenie fire" has become conviction. My faith in Jesus Christ has become deep and abiding. Today we were teaching our waiter about the Book of Mormon. In the middle of our conversation a man came to our table and began to share anti-mormon doctrine with him, he told us that he lived in Southern Utah for years and felt that he had been oppressed by a cult. It was pretty sad to witness. After he was finished, our waiter said "well, everybody has their own opinion, and I'm looking to form my own". He accepted our invitation to read the Book of Mormon and pray. 

I share this experience because it caused some reflection to occur within myself. I thought about everything he had said, but none of it mattered to me. The light and truth of this gospel has been woven into the fibres of my very being. No man or ungodly influence can deny the divine witness I've received of this restored gospel. It was a special moment for me, to realise the growth of my testimony. It reminds me of 3 Nephi 9:20, that mentions how the Lamanites were baptised by the Holy Ghost and they knew it not.

One last thing that stood out to me from our meeting with Elder Rasband was the question "is your word your bond?".

This week was great, aside from the fact that Elder DePriest and I were sick, again. But the Lord consecrated all of our efforts regardless. We attended two zone conferences this week, both were really inspiring! 

Perhaps the highlight of the week was on Saturday, we did a media stand in Durban Central. As we were talking to people (and we were talking to EVERYONE), a missionary pointed to a group of people who were signing. He was like "go teach them in sign language" and I figured it was worth a try! So I went over and started to introduce myself (in American sign language) and they actually understood me! And even though they were signing in South African Sign Language, I was understanding them!! We ended up having a loooong conversation, through which I introduced myself, chit chatted for a bit, and then I taught them about our purpose and the Restoration! It was great at the end, all the other missionaries were just staring at me... haha all of my new deaf friend committed to come to church! So on Sunday morning we went back to where we met them ( we had arranged to meet them there so that we could take them to church with us ), but nobody showed up... We got bunked. Shame. BUT THIS WILL NOT BE THE END!! 

                                                             Sawubona (Hello) Durban 😍

I realised that this is getting long, but I haven't written the hundreth part of all that I'm experiencing here!! Life is so great! The gospel is so true. If you pray properly, sincerely, and with real intent, you will ALWAYS get answers. My most cherished moments recently have been in lessons with investigators as they pray and ask God if what we've taught them is true. The Spirit has testified every single time, and all of us walk away edified.

I love the Lord and I love His work!!

--

Elder Weiler

P.S. Also, there's an incredible mexican food resturante in Durban North called "four15", they have a burrito challenge that I've been dying to do. They make a "double wide" burrito ( a burrito the size of two normal burritos ) and if you eat it in ten minutes you win a free t-shirt and a R100 voucher for your next visit! Three of us did it, I was the only one who finished. I'm not sure if I'm proud, or ashamed... hahaha 

Tina, the Psycho Therapist

THE BEST WAFFLE I'VE EVER EATEN IN MY LIFE

Hello All! Elder DePriest and I are working to cut down our email time and focus more on the work and other p-day errands, so time is permanently short!!

This week was really great! I learned a lot about myself! (especially today..) I learned a lot about pride. Elder Carl B. Cook of the Seventy once taught that when we feel frustrated or offended we should ask ourselves "is it pride?". This week I experimented with that, and I had a rude awakening that I'm not right nearly as often as I'd like to think I am hahaha. It's been a good lesson for me to learn, and I pray that I can grow to be more and more humble with time.

Yesterday Sacrament was powerful! The first talk was about the Atonement of Jesus Christ, it was humble and simple, and the Holy Spirit testified. The second talk was about Mothers in the perspective of the Plan of Salvation and from the scriptures and it was also powerful! I was thinking to myself that this is how sacrament meeting is supposed to be!! Simple and focused on the Atonement of Christ! 

After church we went to follow up on a family we'd met earlier last week, but they turned us down. Elder DePriest and I prayed for direction then and there, and we felt that we need to tract the rest of the street. It was pouring rain, the wind was whipping our coats, and we were COLD. But we really felt that that was what the Lord wanted us to do. We'd tracted the area before with no success, but as we went from door to door in the rain, we found several people who were open to learn more and invited us back!! It was a powerful display of the Lord's hand in HIS work. He's in charge, and when we submit ourselves to do things His way, He opens the windows of Heaven and consecrates our efforts to the salvation of others!! 

Afterward, we went to chat with the fam bam :)) How great! It was so nice to see everybody doing well! 

There's a member in our ward who had us over for lunch a few weeks ago, and as we ate she told us about her profession, she's a psycho therapist. As she told us about what she did we were all pretty interested and she invited us to come visit her office and she would teach us more, so we went this morning! We went and got our blood types (I'm an O+, Who woulda thunk?) and then we went to her office. It was really cool! She taught us a lot about anatomy and different functions of the body and what she does to help people! After that, she taught us about our blood types and all the do's and dont's for our types. It was super interesting! 

Everything is going great here in Berea! The Lord is certainly blessing us, and we've got a lot of exciting plans for this upcoming week!! And Elder Rasband is coming!! Wahoo!!

Have a great week!

--

Elder Weiler

Milquetoast

                                                                    Hello Durban 

Sanibonani!

This week was so fast, I don't even know what to say. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday we were super busy with transfers, Thursday and Friday we had MLC, and Saturday and Sunday we had Stake Conference, but the Lord has managed to bless us anyway!! 

One of the really profound experiences of the week was actually during weekly planning. After an exciting planning meeting (Elder DePriest and I have big plans for this area) we had our companionship inventory. I've never really liked inventory, but I suppose it's because I never really knew how to conduct it. With that, I've always struggled opening up and sharing my feelings with people. But in MLC we had a lesson about companionship inventory and Elder DePriest and I made a goal to do it every week, and as often as necessary. We actually had two this week! But after our weekly planning we had a really nice inventory and we discussed things that we were doing well as individuals and things we needed to work on as individuals. It was hard for me to open up and share some of my frustrations, but Elder DePriest was really open and loving. After we had a good conversation about some of our potential improvements, I felt so much love! It felt so good to be genuine and to really knock some weaknesses on the head! 

I never cease to be amazed at how the Lord is building me in the mission field. Every area, every companion, every assignment has build me to one degree or another. Elder DePriest and I had a conversation this week about how the Lord is preparing us to run His Church and our families, I know that's true. The experiences that one has in the mission field can't be counterfeited or gained anywhere else! I'm so pleased to be here! I'm so happy to be serving as a missionary! I love the Lord and His work! I know that it's true!! Although we've been so busy, the Lord has led us to so many people who are prepared for His gospel, and we've had several spiritual experiences with strangers this week. For example, we found a Subway in Durban Norht (HALLELUJAH) and as we were there we were able to teach all of the workers about the Book of Mormon! Another night we were able to teach three employees at KFC about the Book of Mormon as well! Even though I'm on mission and this is my life, I know that all of you can have the same experiences if you will pray for them and then open your mouth (yes, even in Utah)!! 

I challenge all of you to share the gospel with AT LEAST 1 person this week, less active or nonmember! Remember that we're not doing missionary work to get people to join the church, we do missionary work so that people can receive the Atonement of Jesus Christ! We do missionary work so that people can feel the joys of repentance and find peace as questions are answered and they feel the love of our Heavenly Father. What we offer is more important and urgent than anything else!!! I testify that the Lord will consecrate our efforts to share His gospel, no matter the immediate outcome.

Have a great week! Remember, the Lord lives, He loves you, and He has a work for you to do!!

--

Elder Weiler

             Found Chinese food :)) First time on mission #BlessinsOnBlessinsOnBlessins

                                      Found this shirt at Pick N Pay ( my fav store in SA)