I'm not good at keeping time...

(It totally made my day to receive a random text/love message this week from a member who is visiting her parents, who are serving in the same area as London.  Nothing like opening a text to see a sweet message, along with our son's handsome, smiling face--and that Elder Jantjies--isn't he the cutest!)

Well this week will be another quick one!!! Everybody's just writing really good emails and it's hard to stop reading!! 

Elder Jantjies and I had a great week this week! Statistically speaking, it was the best week we've had yet! Obviously it's not about numbers, but it's cool to ponder what the numbers represent - sons and daughters of God, our brothers and sisters, coming unto Christ, embracing His Atonement, learning of His restored gospel and church, and learning to seek personal revelation to guide their lives. We've got bigger and better plans for this coming week too! I love this work so much. I'm so grateful to be a missionary. 

I'm also grateful for the opportunities we have to grow! I say this all the time, but I mean it every time! I have grown SO much on mission. I realise, often, that I'm a chump and that I need to repent and get my act together. hahaha. I'm so thankful for our patient, charitable Father in Heaven and I couldn't be more grateful for my Saviour! I think I'm just starting to understand grace. I feel it pushing me along the path to exaltation! I feel it lift me when I feel discouraged. It brings peace to my mind when I consider my weaknesses. Boy, mission is humbling. 

FUN FACT! Today is Elder Jantjies' birthday!! Even though it'll be a week late, you can give him a birthday email! I think it'd blow his mind, send pictures too, he loves white people hahaha.

His email is piwo.jantjies@myldsmail.net !  (I'm going to do this for sure!  I hope you will too!)

A not-so-fun fact: On Saturday Elder Jantjies and I found ourselves with a few minutes before an appointment, so we decided to follow the Spirit and do some finding. After praying and coming upon a place that we felt the Lord wanted us to be, we approached the first door. About two minutes into our dialogue we heard a terrible crash and turned around only to see our bakkie (truck) roll forward and a car pass. We ran back to the road and saw that somebody hit our parked car! Fortunately they stopped and we got everything sorted out. Turns out this Sister didn't have a license... But everybody is safe, and that's all that really matters! 

                                        (Their bakkie.  Thank goodness, not much damage)

                                                    (Her car did not fare so well)

         (Reenactment for your viewing pleasure.  It's never a dull moment with London around!)

Well I think that's all the time I have for this week! I'm so grateful for the gift of life! I'm so grateful for the Plan of Happiness! I know this is Christ's gospel, this is the way back to our Heavenly Father, it's the only way and it's available to all! 

I love you all!

--

Elder Weiler

(We had an amazing experience this week, with a visit from Brother Jorgenson and his family.  He just returned from Lesotho, where he is over the translation of The Book of Mormon in the Sesotho language.  He brought wonderful pictures and kind words about London and the great work that is happening in Lesotho.  Elder Weiler is SO excited about this and shared this with us) . . . .

Also, exciting news, the Maseru chapel was open all week for the translation of the Book of Mormon into Sesotho!! It will take awhile, but it's exciting that they've started! It will be a HUGE blessing to the Saints and the missionaries serving in Lesotho.

I'm so glad you got to meet Brother Jorgenson! That's so fun!! Members have shared with us a lot of powerful experiences translating and reading the Book of Mormon is Sesotho. I think it's really going to change the church here (in the best way possible)!! 

Life is Good, Way Up Here

Hey! What's Up! Hello!

This week was FANTASTIC!!!!

Two highlights:

We had zone conference in Bloemfontein and it was incredible! It was exactly what I needed, a spiritual revival! Mission isn't easy. But God is over all! This is His work and this is His Church!

I also got to see Elder Benissan and that's always a joyous celebration :))

Ntate Seotsanyana was baptised on Sunday! Elder Jantjies performed the ordinance, it was his first baptism :)) The service was great! I always say I don't have time, but today I LITERALLY HAVE NO TIME!

Enjoy some pictures! (The last two weeks he has sent the pictures in Google Drive and it says I need permission to view them.  I have pressed the "get permission" icon both weeks, but have not received an e-mail with permission yet.  If you have any suggestions for me, please let me know.)

The Lord lives!

The First Epistle of Elder Weiler to the Americans (and a couple others)

1. And the first week of 2017 ended in peace.

hahaha no time today, lots of good emails (thanks guys :) ) but we had a great week! I had a bowel blockage earlier this week, which wasn't much fun, but it's better now! (shout out to all the fibre).  (He probably should have saved that for his Mom letter :)  Sorry folks--TMI)  We saw a lot of tender mercies this week! I love the Lord! I know He lives and I know that this is His work!! 

Fun fact about Lesotho: There are no addresses. So, this is a real example of directions to a person's house we received while tracting -- "Go to Qoaling, find the place where they sell animal food, everybody knows it. When you get to the shop you'll see a big house, there's too many kids playing there. Ask them for Tsepo and they'll bring you to my house" .......... -_- thanks mme. hahha it's like that EVERY TIME. But somehow we always manage to find them!! (We have the Liahona). (Todd contacted the mission office asking for an address, so that we could send London's ballot for the election in October.  They totally laughed and said, "There are NO addresses in Lesotho")

Cool experience, yesterday we had an investigator bear his testimony during sacrament meeting. When I saw him get up I was surprised, a little unsure of what he might say, but he bore a sincere, powerful testimony of the Book of Mormon, a living prophet, and the restored church! It was really rewarding as a missionary to see somebody you've been working with feel confident to testify to a congregation of the truthfulness of the Restoration! I feel like a proud Dad :) He's being baptised this Sunday too! We're really excited for him; he's had missionaries teaching him on/off for FIVE YEARS. IT'S FINALLY HAPPENING!

God is good.

(He sent 6 pictures but I couldn't open them!  Such a bummer!)

Ramblings from Old Man Weiler (AKA Ntate Lekhooa)

That's right, Old man Weiler (20 years young is no joke)

Well I don't know where this week went.. in fact, I don't know where this year went! Eish.. Old age...

This week really flew by though! But it was great! I love the Spirit! Elder Jantjies and I really strive to keep revelation central to everything we do; and we're never left disappointed! It hasn't been until now that I realise how appropriate is it named the GIFT of the Holy Ghost. We're surrounded by wickedness, deteriorating morals, and social, political, economic, and spiritual catastrophe. To whom/where shall a person go to find peace in a world that seems to be continually spiraling downward? 

The gift of the Holy Ghost is a guide, He's a Comforter, and a teacher. The gift of the Holy Ghost is a covenant that as long as we're worthy we don't have to brace the trials of life alone! As part of our mortal probation we have to make choices everyday. These choices can be daunting or difficult. On mission, we act as representatives of the Saviour and His church, and as gatekeepers of His Atonement; as such, our responsibility is to help others take the steps that lead to repentance through the Atonement and, ultimately, to conversion to the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is often overwhelming (at least to me) and can be really frustrating. BUT I find great comfort knowing that I don't have to do this alone! The Lord has given me, and all of us, the promise of His Spirit to guide us through this life! 

Elder Jantjies and I had a lot of powerful experiences this week receiving revelation. One of the most profound to me happened yesterday. I was asked to speak in Sacrament meeting about 5 minutes before church started; as I took my seat at the pulpit I prayed and asked the Lord for His guidance on what He would have me speak about, through the beginning of the meeting, the administration of the sacrament, and during my talk I was guided as to the message the Lord wanted me to share! It was a really cool experience for me. I feel confident that I shared what the Lord would have shared if He were in my place! 

I've talked to a lot of people today about the Spirit and His role in our lives! I know that the Lord is prepared to guide us as we enquire of His opinion! I know that the Spirit will speak peace to our minds as we open our hearts to our Father in Heaven during times of trouble, and I know that through the power of the Holy Ghost all of us might come to have a conviction of the reality and the truthfulness of the restored gospel! 

(Sorry this is getting long but I'm almost done)

Recently I've thought a lot about the early Saints of this dispensation. What would drive people to abandon home, possessions, and comfort to go to a so-called "Zion"? What would motivate a person to lay down his life rather than to deny a so-called prophet? What would carry a person through the persecutions faced by the early Saints? I've concluded that they did what they did and they were able to do it because they really KNEW. They had a conviction of the reality of their covenants to God, of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. and they had been cleansed by the Atonement and knew that they were on the strait and narrow path.

As Saints in the latter latter-days, do we have the same conviction? Are you willing to lay down your life for this gospel? Are you willing to leave behind everything to follow the Saviour? If not, the prescription for conviction is above. The key lies in

- a testimony, through the Spirit of God, of the Book of Mormon as the word of God

- being cleansed by the Atonement of Christ, and living according to the higher law of the gospel

- acting, in all diligence, to magnify the callings the Lord has extended to us (mothers/fathers, missionaries, teachers, leaders, etc.)

I encourage all of you to ponder your personal commitment to following Jesus Christ and seek guidance through the spirit of revelation on how you can improve.

--

Elder Weiler

Pics: During my studies I saw a pillar of light, exactly through my window, about the brightness of the sun ( it was the sun), which gradually fried my corneas...