You are Divine. And Your Destiny is Calling.

Hola mi familia y mis personas favoritos en todo el mundo! Les amo muchisimo. En serio. Como mas de todo en el mundo. Como estan?

 

Shoutout: TYLER!!!! Suerte!!!! (good luck!) Good luck as you enter into this amazing roller coaster ride, it will be the best two years of your life. Not always easy, but so worth it. Soon to be Elder Weenig! Brotha! I am so proud of you, and look up to you! You are going to be the most fantastic missionary this world has ever seen. Thank you for being my hero and best friend. I am so proud of you and can't believe you are already headed on a mission! YOU WILL BE INCREDIBLE! :) I am rooting you on, champ. I love you so much!

 

I love being a missionary. More than I did last week. Can you believe that? But seriously. Everyday is like waking up in a dream. I can thank Heavenly Father and family for giving me this incredible opportunity to come on a mission...to learn, to serve, to grow, to love, and to BECOME. I love the people so much, I love the language, I love my companion and love being a missionary. I love it. I never want it to end!

 

I am realizing more and more that we are so blessed to be CHILDREN of God. And because we are children, we are constantly learning and constantly trying to become like Him. Sometimes we fall or make mistakes, but that is okay. We are His. We are divine, and He loves us and wants us to be built and shaped into something much better than we are. That is what makes life so amazing. Can you believe I get to tell people that all day everyday? SO COOL! I get to tell people everyday that they can change and be happy. I get to tell people that they are loved and they are princesses and princes in the Kingdom of God. I love this work, and there is so much to be done!

 

I have been doing a lot of pondering on our divine worth and who we are as individuals....and I have discovered something that may have been obvious to others, but it has never been obvious to me. Guess what? The ONLY opinion, judgment and expectations that matter in life are Heavenly Fathers. Yep, that is right, and if we are constantly looking to please HIM and NOT the world, then we will always be happy. When I am a trying my hardest to please HIM, then I am happy. If I am beautiful to HIM I am happy. If I am doing what HE would have me do, I am happy. If I am learning of HIM I am happy. If I am setting goals and working hard to refine my life to be closer to and becoming more like HIM, then I am happy. The moment I take my eyes of Him and start worrying about the world, I am not happy. What an interesting concept. There really is no such thing as true happiness in the things of the world....awards, acclaims, beauty, perfect grades, titles, cars, money...whatever it is. The only thing that brings REAL happiness could be obtain by the poorest man in the world. It is a true and progressing relationship with our Heavenly Father. I know that. I have seen that everyday on my mission. If you haven't in a while, or even you have, get on your knees tonight and pray to Heavenly Father to help you see your DIVINE potential...your ETERNAL potential. Ask to see yourself through HIS eyes and what HE would have you do. Your life will change. You will be happier and life will seem more enjoyable. Let God control your life, it takes you to far greater places and heights. This I know. Forget what everyone else thinks, and focus on what HE thinks. Satan wants you to worry about what others think, but it doesn't matter. "The people who matter don't mind, and the people who mind don't matter." and God doesn't mind, He just wants you to be and do your best at conforming YOUR will to HIS. Change your life....Everyday. I am trying and it isn't easy, and not necessarily fun, but I just want that "natural man" out of me...NOW!!

 

Miracles are happening all of other the place. My heart is so full, I can't even type really. Sorry about the long soapbox, but my eyes have been opened.

 

REINA GAVE UP HER COFFEE!!! Wahoo! What a feat! Reina is one of the people on this earth that sincerely has a desire to please God. She knows who she is as a daughter of God and she wants to change her life to live in accordance to what He has in store for her. So, we bought her cinnamon gum and a huge thing of hot chocolate. We showed up to one of the lessons and put the hot chocolate and gum on the table and told her to hand over her coffee. She was a bit hesitant, but, SHE GAVE US HER COFFEE!! She said, "Get that out of my sight. I am done. I am never going back." Amazing woman. But what was even more amazing is that she told us that she always gets headaches after not drinking coffee. So we taught her about fasting for strength. We fasted with her. We fasted that she would have the power to give up her addiction and that she would not have any more headaches. That was almost a week ago. Reina has not had a glass of coffee, and she hasn't had one headache. Can you say MIRACLE!!?!? Amazing. She is going through the hot chocolate fast, but she is off of coffee and tells us she is never going back. She told us that she can feel the power of God helping her not drink and not get headaches. What an incredible woman. We put that coffee somewhere we can see it everyday, as a reminder that with God, NOTHING is impossible. Giving up coffee, for Reina, seemed impossible. But its not, with God. 

Karen and her little girl got baptized this week!!! Karen is Reina's daughter! And what amazing conversion story of this family! We taught her a little bit, but she is more comfortable in English, so she was baptized in the English ward and we did tag-team teaching with the English missionaries. She is literally the most amazing example I have ever seen of TRUE change. She went from being a drug addict, bum on the street, to being baptized a member of the church. Tattoos, earrings and all, Karen was the most beautiful person that has ever been baptized in my eyes. She is so happy, and she has a desire to do what God has in store for her. I will never forget her powerful example. In fact, yesterday when we saw her she was wearing the young women's medallion on her neck. She truly has changed her life and has come unto Jesus Christ. She gave up everything....her old life, habits and likes....and literally has become a NEW creature in Jesus Christ. We can do that every week through the sacrament!!! Cool, right? But what a miracle that she got baptized! I loved helping teaching her, but she was the one that chose to make the decisions she did. Now, her and her daughter are preparing themselves to enter into the temple together to be sealed for time and all eternity....they are going to be a FOREVER family. All because of coming to Christ, and changing and living how He would have us live! I AM SO SO SO SO SO happy for Karen and her daughter. The Spirit at her baptism was incredible. She was in tears after. She told me that when she went down into the water she saw all of the black in her life go white. The words she told me she felt was "I feel like I am a new person. I am born again." Amazing. I love seeing these people coming to Christ.

 

Spanish. The feat of all feats. It is the language of dreams, I just wish I could speak it perfectly. Pero estoy luchando! (But, I am fighting!) Actually, just today I finished reading the entire Book of Mormon out loud in Spanish!!!! WA HOOO!!! I am so excited! But I have so much still to learn, and am reminded and humbled everyday of how much I need to improve my Spanish. But I had a cool experience with the gift of tongues the other day...can I share it? The ward was having an activity with all of the sisters, and the stake president of the Relief Society wanted to understand what was going on in the meeting. She doesn't speak Spanish, and there was a need for a translator. Hermana Rodas, our ward's relief society president, looked at me and said "venga!" which means "get over here". I was scared. I have never translated for someone! But, I knew that the Lord would help me to be able to translate. All the sudden they started giving their talks in Spanish and they were going fast, but then all the sudden my mouth opened and I was translating everything into English! What! That was so cool. I KNOW that it was NOT me, it was the Spirit. But it was so cool to see that the gift of Tongues is real. I just hope that I can learn this language more and more everyday, so I can connect and love these people on a deeper and more full level. But I read a talk by president Uckdorf that said that we need not worry about learning the language of the people, but of learning the language of Charity. That is the most important language, because it surpasses all language barriers known to man. I need to work on that language more than Spanish. :) Do you speak Charity?

 

We got to make some papusas with one of our investigators. We told her that if we could teach her about the true church of God, that she could show us how to make this cool El Salvador food called "papusas." When we taught her the restoration, her mind literally was blown. She loved it. Except she says that she won't get baptized until she is 30, because that is when Jesus was baptized. That is called following Christ's example to the "T". Her name is Maria, and she is amazing. Also, it was a blast making papusas with her.

 

Vannessa and Juana are amazing. They are feeding off of the Gospel, and literally love everything that is about the Gospel. They have so many questions and are progressing rapidly through the lessons. They have had some hard times, but Vannessa and Juana both told us that they know that we are literally "angles sent from heaven" to show them what God wants and needs them to do. Woah. They both are getting baptized in the next couple of weeks!!!! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT???!!! I AM SOOOOOOO EXCITED!!! Vannessa told us that she made a promise that if God would send her messengers from the church she was to join, that she would do anything they asked of her. We showed up the next day. Amazing! She is getting baptized, and I can't even wait to see the changes that are already happening and that will happen. The Lord is literally blessing my companion (Hermana Wilcox) and I with so many wonderful people to teach and to help grow and develop in their faith. We even taught Christina, Vannessa's little sister the restoration...and she told us the other night that she has been praying every day and know that it is true! AMAZING! I think that she too will be baptized soon. More than anything, I just love these people so much and am so excited for the changes that they are making! I love them.

 

I got to go to the temple this week. I love that place so much. I hope you go every change you get. It is what makes us the happiest.

 

I hope this letter finds you happy, safe and sound. I love you so much, and I am ALWAYS praying for you. I also can't thank you enough for supporting me here on my mission. It means the world to me. You mean the world to me. I couldn't have asked for a greater opportunity in the whole world than to serve my King for 18 months. Such a short time. Thanks for loving me and supporting me and helping me. I look up to you all so much, and love you for who you are. Never forget who you are and WHOSE you are.

 

Stand Strong.

 

Your biggest fan,

Hermana Weenig

xoxoxoxo

Coffee for hot chocolate. The BIG switch.

Karen's baptism!!! I love her so much and am so proud of her!

Making papusas with Maria!

Temple trip! Makes me the happiest girl in the whole world!

 We went to the temple with my new ward family! I love these people so much! Hermana Giovanna Cruz (from Peru), Hermana and Hermano Adams (from El Salvador), Hermana Claros (from Bolivia) and Hermana Wilcox and I (from Utah).

This is my apartment.....hahaha just kidding. :) maybe...