Becoming His

I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!! Could I shout that any louder and could I just get on the loud speaker and just tell the story of the restoration from wherever I am? Man, that is all I want right now. The coolest part about this great work is that God does it. I am nothing. I am less than the dust of the earth. But, God is everything. He lets us missionaries contribute to the work. God has given me the most wonderful past 17 months to refine and re-refine and refine some more my life. But the cool part is, that hasn't been my focus. My focus has been His children and helping them, and in the midst...I got lost. Really lost.....the type of lost that makes you the happiest and gives you understanding of who and what you truly are. I hope all of you get "lost" in the lives and service of our King daily. BEST WAY TO LIVE. And I am seeing that type of thinking change these sister missionaries we work with and everyone that we are teaching. It is something else. The more we ALLOW our selves to become totally dedicated to the cause of the salvation of souls---and allow ourselves to become more and more consecrated....we become HIS. And God can make much more out of our lives than we can by ourselves. Quite frankly, I am relieved to know and understand that my Father in Heaven has got a perfect plan that is going to keep transforming me into the woman that I need to be in order to return to His presence. And guess what? He does that with all of His children. The more I get to know God, and FEEL of the absolute PERFECT love that He has for His children, the more I understand how great and crucial this time of life really is. It is nothing to stress over, but, rather it is the opposite. We should consistently ask ourselves if we are at peace with God. That is what matter most. Become His. Become at peace. Stop fighting the natural you that wants to do and have everything your way. It doesn't matter. We are God's. His opinion is all the matters. That is why I will never again let the world shift me like sands of the sea. Be founded on He that never changes. 

MIRACLES. 

CHRISTIAN COEN IS GETTING BAPTIZED ON JULY 12!!!!!!!!!! I can't even wait. He literally is one of the most prepared and amazing people that I have ever had the chance to meet on my mission. He is a standing testimony that God really is in the details of our lives. Christian immigrated from El Salvador 21 days ago. Two days after he got here, we started to teach him. The Lord has literally lead and guided every lesson and Christian really is applying all that he is learning. He has been reading the Book of Mormon, and just got a job from the bishop in the ward. He is SURE FIRE!!! He is learning so quickly and he is really changing. At first he didn't really want anything to do with religion. But then he listened. He went to church. We taught him. He read. He prayed. He questioned. He doubted---a LOT. But with the help of the Lord and His incredible Spirit, Christian is changing. That same Spirit has the power---if we let it---to change us daily. We had given him some homework to read in the Book of Mormon, and when we came back he had read the entire thing and had each character memorized with there perspective stories as well. Christian may be the most solid person that I have had the opportunity to meet on the mission. It is fascinating teaching him because he has a philosophical view of the world, and to now see him accepting the gospel and feeling the Spirit is incredible. Just last night we were teaching the Plan of Salvation, and BOOM. Christian started telling us, "If I didn't feel what I feel right now, I wouldn't keep listening to you guys. Logically none of this makes sense. But something or someone inside of me keeps telling me that this is right. I don't know what it is, but it is amazing!" We explained to him that it is the Spirit, and that God is trying to tell him that this is all true. God's plan is the best plan. I love it. 

This week we were teaching a in-active/part member family. Vicky hasn't been to church in 20 years. But we began to sing "How Great Thou Art" and she burst into tears and started singing along with us. MIRACLE! She remembered every word. She and her whole family want to come to church, and they are coming this week! The Spirit of music changes people.

We also were teaching a less-active's non-member mom named Digna! She is INCREDIBLE. We probably had one of the most spiritual and intense first lessons that I have ever had on the mission. She wants to be baptized....so we will see! :) Actually wait. YES! She is getting baptized. 

Hugo is golden....but he had a stroke this week! Keep him in your prayers! Hugo is like our new-found grandpa. We had a little hospital miracle. We went to visit him in the hospital and we sang him songs. He broke out into tears. He has no family here or anything, so we are literally all that he has got. As we are singing the nurses and the other patients flocked into the room and asked who we were. We got to share the Gospel with them. It was incredible. God always provides ways for us to talk with many people...He is micromanaging this great work. 

Rios family came to church this week!! INCREDIBLE miracle! This family hasn't been active in a while, and we are starting to work with Stephanie, the youth on her personal progress. It is incredible to see the changes.

We are busy---ALL THE TIME. From working with these incredible missionaries, to doing exchanges, to teaching lessons, opening the area, meetings with President and the bishops. It is a BLAST. I wouldn't have it any other way...but we are busy!! I love this great work and can't stop smiling. 

I am finding more everyday that when life deals us hard cards, it is wise to ask instead of "Why me?" to ask "What do I need to learn to be more like God from this situation?" or "What can I refine out of me to put off the natural man and become more like God?" That is what changes us. We can't change our circumstances, we can't change people, but we can change the way we ACT. And, hopefully every time we act we are acting like He would. Also, something that I have been learning is that sometimes we choose to let satan stress us out and make us worry about the "drops" in life, when really we should be focusing on the MORE important matters. If you feel like you are caught up right now in something, and are angry or sad....step back. Look at it from an eternal perspective. Pray to see as God sees and pray to see your life with an eternal perspective and the seemingly small and frustrating moments in life become a lot easier to handle. Moments really is what life is made up of. But every moment is like a QUIZ of sorts. We must ace each quiz that we possibly can, so that in the end we can pass the final test at hand. NEVER let satan make you fail a quiz of life....because that is really where happiness is found. The daily, little victories of becoming more and more like Christ.

Thanks so much for all your love, support and prayers. You are wonderful. Never forget. 

STAND STRONG.

Hermana Brooke Weenig

 Meet the Rios family!! They FINALLY came to church!! What a miracle!! I am so excited for them and all the changes they are making to come closer to God. What a miracle family.

 Hugo, on of our investigators, had a stroke this week. So we spent time in the hospital with him. He is the strongest man I have ever met on my mission. We sang to him, and he begged us to teach him more about the gospel. We spend hours teaching him there in the hospital. What a dream.