Stand Strong!: Live TODAY and DECIDE to be Happy

Hola Querida familia! Cuanto yo les amo y deseo que todo este bien. HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY (late) WE ARE SO LUCKY TO LIVE IN THE GREATEST NATION EVER!!!

I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!! Still. And I am positive that will never change. This week has been incredible, to say the least. Sometimes God's plan is so perfect and the people that He puts into our life is so perfect for what we need to learn I just stand there with my mouth open and hold on for the ride. And if I have learned anything on my mission, I have learned the more I come unto Christ, the more WEAKNESSES that I have are exposed and the more I get the chance to tap into his GRACE and learn how to rely on Him. Also, I have learned that in order for us to grow, God has to constantly pull ourselves out of our comfort zones, and often asks us to do things we don't necessarily want to do.

BEST FOURTH OF JULY EVER!!! There is honestly nothing like being the nation's capital for the fourth. It was incredible. I AM SO PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN. I LOVE this country, and am so grateful for the freedom that we have. Think about it: We have the freedom to speak. And the freedom of religion. Those two make missionary work possible and make the expression of truth and the growth of happiness possible as well---which is the greatest blessing in the world. We had a blast on the Fourth of July. Since, we were asked not to knock on people's doors, we attended the HUGE ward party. It was a blast! Super un-American though. There was Salsa music blasting from the background and a whole bunch of Hispanic food. But, hey! It was still a blast! I love these ward members SO much, and feel honored to serve around them. We spent the day with them. And then we had the opportunity to go an to watch the fireworks that they shoot off in downtown DC, inside an ARMY fort---Fort Myer. It was a total blast and we got to know the members really well. We are so lucky to live in this amazing country, and I LOVE AMERICA!!

GIVING SIGHT TO THE BLIND. Miracle of Hugo's eye. This next miracle literally is proof that God is real and that miracles STILL happen. So our investigator, Hugo, who had a stroke 2 weeks ago, was blind in his left eye. We taught him about the priesthood and how the same power that Jesus Christ had when He was on the earth is on the earth today. We taught him about faith and how his faith would give him the strength to be able to heal his eye. He then asked us if he could receive a blessing. We had a member with us and he said, "Of course!" So the next days we had invited the Elders and this member to use their priesthood power to heal Hugo's eye. Well, what happened next was incredible. We read Hugo the story of how Jesus Christ healed the blind man....but that it was according to the man's faith that he was actually healed. We asked Hugo if he thought that he had the strength to be healed, and he said "Si." So, the Elders continued to give him a blessing of heal and of strength. Probably one of the most incredible blessings that I have ever heard in my entire life. After we said "Amen" we sat there in SILENCE. It was so silent you could hear a pin drop. The Spirit filled the room in a way that I have never felt it before. Hugo was speechless. EVERYONE was speechless. It was like there was a blanket of comfort and goodness that was so thick that we couldn't do anything else but just smile. The Spirit was there, it was working a miracle. All 6 of us just sat there. In UTTER silence....for 15 minutes straight. Hugo's eye began to open. HE COULD SEE AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHAT?!?!?!? INCREDIBLE!!!!!!!!!!!! MIRACLES HAPPEN STILL!!!!!!! Moroni talks a ton about, "Have miracles ceased among men? I say unto thee nay." And I can solemnly witness that is TRUE. MIRACLES haven't ceased. Hugo has got his sight back!! Seriously, one of the COOLEST things I have ever seen on my mission. Because of Hugo's faith and because of the power of the priesthood, he received his sight again. He told us that he has never felt so happy and so healed. He said that he could feel strength returning back into his body. Incredible. Hugo is going to get baptized at the end of July. And if that wasn't a faith builder, I don't know what is. I have never felt so much happiness and joy and faith and gratitude for the Gospel as I did in those 15 minutes of silence. We knew he was being healed. And he was.

Christian is getting BAPTIZED this weekend! What a blessing! He is probably the most prepared person that I have ever seen in all of my mission. He takes it all seriously and wants to live the gospel lifestyle. We were teaching him the commandments and he goes---"All of this just makes a LOT of sense. I want this lifestyle! It just makes life better." YEAHHHHHH!!!! Christian is on FIRE. And he is pretty much already a member. He bought a nice new suit and is making a ton of changes to his lifestyle. It is incredible to see. On Sunday I bore my testimony and talked about the change that the Gospel brings and I testified of baptism with a HUGE smile on my face....looking right at Christian. He smiled really big. He can't wait for his baptism, nor can we!!! We may have to push it back a week, depending on how he is feeling, but he is CRUISING and the ward is in love with him.

Exchanges with the sisters in incredible! I am learning SO much. We have been working a TON with the Hermanas this transfer, and I am learning so much from all of their pizzazz and desire to hasten the Lord's work in this time. Having been a sister training leader for a time, I really am so grateful for these wonderful woman that have taught me so much through their examples. One of the sisters, from Mexico, told me that she could see God's love in my eyes. Honestly, I love these girls, and I know that God loves them. I know God loves all of us, so there is never any reason to think lowly or look down on ANYONE. We are ALL His children, and that is ENOUGH. We are ENOUGH. And He loves us perfectly. I was on an exchange with a new missionary from Mexico and we were out street contacting (possibly my favorite thing to do) and we found a man made of Gold! He was in a hurry, so we walked a MILE AND A HALF (speed walking, have you know) while TEACHING THE RESTORATION! What a blast. I love this work more and more everyday. It just keeps getting better.

Jacky. We were going to see one of the in-active families in our ward and we knocked and they were home. But there was an African woman sitting outside on the curb....looking out into the distance. Blank stares. Sadness was written all across her face. We stopped and talked to her. God LITERALLY loves and knows all of His children, and we all have access to see and feel that love for others at all times if we want to. She was feeling down and depressed and we were able to share with her a message of hope and love through the restoration. She LOVED it. We went back to teach her family! They all want to learn and had talked to missionaries years ago and want to come and be baptized! What a miracle!

I got to sing, via President's request (hahaha), at a huge mission leadership conference! It was a blast! The meeting was edifying and I learned a ton. We had a former missionary come and talk to us about how to "Own" proselyting via Facebook. He baptized a total of 10 people via Facebook on his mission. Incredible right? We are still trying to figure out how to better utilize social media as missionaries....but we are getting better. You can check out my Facebook page---I am under Hermana Brooke Weenig. Kinda fun. Still blows my mind. But right now I am teaching someone in the following countries: France, Pakistan, Phillipines, Alabama, China, Japan, Mexico, Honduras, Argentina, and Bolivia. ALL ON LINE!!! Can you believe how cool that is? Talk about hastening the work. WHAT A MIRACLE.

Everyday, I am learning more and more about enjoying life and learning how to be happy to just have the basics of life. Like breathing. Like a body that functions properly. Like the Book of Mormon. Sometimes we feel like we are soaring, and then suddenly feel as if our wings have cut off and that we can no longer fly. But God doesn't work like that. In fact, it is quite the contrary. Whenever we have trials or things that are put in front of us that seem to be impossible, it might seem like God takes away our wings for a while, but really, it is just so He can give us NEW ones to fly to GREATER heights. Life is SO GOOD. And The only SURE thing is that you have TODAY to live. So what will you do with it? What will you make of it? Will you HONOR God with how you live today? Will you decide that it isn't what you want, rather it is what HE wants? Will you give your desires to God? Find a reason to be happy...RIGHT NOW. And Be happy. All I know is that every tear that has ever fallen from my eyes or will ever fall from my eyes...has and will strengthen me. Tears and trials strengthen us. Use them and CHOOSE to be happy and LIVE today. Don't be so stressed about tomorrow that you can't even enjoy the moments today. "Men are that they might have joy" (2 Nephi 2:25) so have it.

Thanks for all your love, support and prayers. I hope this finds you well and happy....and most importantly....CLOSE to our Savior Jesus Christ. You are always in my heart and prayers.

STAND STRONG.

Hermana Weenig

Fireworks at DC. INCREDIBLE.

To celebrate the fourth we went to DC last Monday....we saw the library of congress and all of the Fourth of July banquet stuff...It was a blast!

They had some Chinese celebration while we were there. What a blast.

Me and Hermana Moore having a blast.

Hermana Moore, Me and Oliver Mejia at the Fireworks. We sat RIGHT on the Patomac River and watched them blast in front of the USA capitol. What a blast!!!

Hno. Montoya at the 4th of July BBQ for our ward, it was a blast!

Hermana Castro and I at the BBQ...she and I are determined we knew each other before this life...way cool.

We have a friend who works in the army base that sits right accross from the patomac. SO WE WATCHED THE FIREWORKS FROM INSIDE THE FORT!!! It was absolutely incredible! Super high security though! We went with a bunch of members in our ward and we had a blast!!