God's Plan is the Best Plan

I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY. This week ZOOMED by and we have been working like crazy. The good news is--we have been so busy we can barely see straight. I love this great work and this ward and these people are on FIRE...it is truly inspiring to see! Miracles, miracles, miracles. Our Heavenly Father is doing miracles left and right and I am so grateful that I have the opportunity to be along for the ride. The ORIGINAL church of Jesus Christ is on the earth AGAIN today. Part of that beautiful restoration is the fact that we have the beautiful Plan of Salvation. And now, more than ever, it means something big to me. Not only does it mean that I get to spend eternity with my favorite people in the world (you guys), but it means that I know who I am, why I am here and who I am supposed to become so that I can live with God again. Isn't that beautiful? We don't have to walk around in life without a purpose and hopeless. We have purpose and there isn't a second to loose.

Miracle: this week we were out tracting. Knocking Doors to tell people about Heavenly Father and how to be happy is MY FAVORITE THING. We knocked into this beautiful family from Honduras. The mom answered the door and she was holding a new born baby of about 14 days old. Woah. The Spirit prompted us to start teaching the Plan of Salvation and help teach her about the purpose of this life and where we came from. "Do you want to know where your baby came from?" We asked. "Yes, I have been wondering that." She replied. She is ELECT. Her husband came in and listened. They invited all of their kids to come in and listen. They are ELECT. Teaching families is one of the most amazing things. I can't describe it. Other than picturing them all in white walking into the temple together. We taught the message of the Restoration. They loved it. They wanted us to come back. We did. They are now, as a family...PREPARING TO GET BAPTIZED! Can you believe it? It is absolutely amazing!! :) We have been praying and praying to find families, and the Lord sent us straight to one. The part that was so incredible about that lesson was that we got to tie in the restoration with the Plan of Salvation. There was something so powerful about sitting there and teaching about where we came from and why we are here as we were staring at a beautiful new-born child that just came our Heavenly Father's presence. It caused me to think--life really is so short, and we have so much to learn here--I saw that baby and thought--it is so pure and has got his whole life ahead of him--he will pass through trials, he will pass through pain and sickness---but it is all apart of God's plan. It is a perfectly DESIGNED plan to help that child overcome all of his weaknesses so that he can become like God. That is really why we are here. To become like our Heavenly Father---He knew we couldn't do it alone so He sent His Son, Jesus Christ.

Bryan Huarita is on fire! His mom had to leave to go to Guatemala, so his baptism will be moved to the 16th of March when she is back! We are SOOOOOO excited!  This week we took him to the temple and showed him what steps he needs to take to prepare to go into the temple so he can go on a mission. He is so dedicated and counting down till the day he is baptized! I am so so so excited for him! He is one of the coolest people I have met on my mission and has been a poster child of forgiveness and repenting to have a better life. Along with Bryan, has been the re-activation of 2 of his best friends. We have been working with them to help Bryan get baptized, and they came to the temple with us as well. Well, when we got to the temple we invited them to all prepare for missions. ALL of them accepted!! WAHOOOOO! They are all now preparing to go on missions! Can you believe it? Maybe one of them will serve in Cordoba, Argentina. That is my bet for sure :). Bryan is a big-time band artist and he is working on getting some records for the future, but this week at the temple he told us that he told his band that he was preparing to serve a LDS mission after he is baptized this month. He said it was really hard, but that the band is supporting him! Awesome, right?

I love doing exchanges with these wonderful hermanitas. This week I had the opportunity to go serve with a Hermana from Canada! She is awesome! We worked her area and found some new people to teach! I learn so much from these wonderful hermanas and I am so honored to serve them. I love getting to know them and learning how to work with all sorts of people. These girls literally are AMAZING. I am starting to see how true it is that God has saved these elect Girls to serve missions at this time. They are wonderful, and I love serving them as a Sister training leader. Also, there is prepared people EVERYWHERE. The work is hastening like a fast speed train.

Update on Byron from Ecuador! He will be getting baptized this month, we have just got to get him married to the woman he is living with first! They have finally made the decision to get married---IT IS A MIRACLE!! WAHOOOO! And He is on fire! He has been reading the Book of Mormon like a rock star, he is already in Mormon! WOW! He is really excited for his baptism and we are working with him to get him TOTALLY prepared for his baptism this month. He is singing in his mariachi band this weekend for the event we are planning as a district...we are pretty excited about that! :)

This week we had zone conference! It was so inspiring and I learned a TON about how I can be a better missionary and better person. One thing that really stood out to me is that we are all different people. God therefore speaks to us all in different ways. We must learn how to recognize and follow His voice. Also a quote that has been stuck in my mind, and applied to our teaching since then has been, "Show me the WHY and I will figure out HOW." All we can do as teachers is show them WHY it will bless their lives, and then they will AUTOMATICALLY figure out how. Elder Ni, a missionary from Tawain, ask my companion and I to sing with him and his companion there. They are the Chinese speaking missionaries so we sang a song at zone conference that was a mix of Chinese and Spanish! It sounded SO cool!! What a blast! I love how diverse this mission is. :)

AMAZING NEWS! Remember Adla and Jill Betancour who I had the opportunity to teach and see get baptized while serving in Old Town? Well, I got mail from both of them this week...and THEY HAVE ENTERED INTO THE TEMPLE TO DO BAPTISMS FOR THE DEAD!!!! :) :) :)  I couldn't be more happy. They said that they have never been so happy in all of their lives....and neither have I. That was the happiest news ever!! I remember meeting them back in July of last year...in the lobby of an apartment complex. Little did they know in just under a year their WHOLE lives would change. And now for generations later they will be touched. Missionary work is the COOLEST! I am so happy Adla and Jill are going to the temple and are now working to be sealed for time and all eternity together. AH!

We are SOOOO excited for this weekend! We are jammed pack busy this week because we are finishing planning and putting the final touches on the "Mundial Mormon" (which means "Mormon World Cup") and apparently a TON of people are coming. 6 different wards are involved and it is going to be huge! We are so excited about it and we have LOVED planning, preparing and seeing this idea take flight! It is SO exciting! Also, we will be getting iPads this week. Crazy, right? Missionary work is changing drastically. We taught 43 lessons this week. Apparently a MISSION RECORD!!!!! woah, right? We are trying to give it all that we have got! It has been an amazing week!!

Thank you so much for all your love, support, letters and prayers. I love you all SO much. You are always in my heart and prayers. I hope you take time to GET to know God, and then STUDY the map (the scriptures) daily. It is the only way to be happy.

STAND STRONG.

Hermana Weenig

Bryan and his crew at the temple---learning about missionary work! We are all SO excited for his baptism!

All of us at the Temple Visitor Center. We are here to help all these people come closer to Christ. COOLEST job ever.
Hermana Dopp, Me, Shulamy Figeroa (Peru), Bryan Huartia (Bolivia), Roger Arteaga (Guatemala), Danny Coen (El Salvador)

Byron! Getting baptized this month! Marachi singer and DJ. Pretty cool, right?

Mundial Mormon!!!