Hello Family and Friends,
I am sorry that I was not able to take the time to email this past
week. Please forgive me! I will tell you about all the crazy things
that have happened in the past 2 weeks. I will start with the week
before this last one.
Transfer week! On Wednesday, we had to set up a booth at NOVA
Community College for some religious diversity week. That was actually
a cool experience because people would walk up to you and ask you what
the Book of Mormon was or what we believe about Jesus Christ. The
funny part was that this one guy at a booth kept coming up to the
other booths and wanted to "discuss" the Bible. When he came up to our
table he was very friendly but you could tell he wanted to debate with
us about religion. Of course we did not give in but it was fun to chat
with him.
Also, we went to the airport to pick up new missionaries. I enjoy
seeing the excitement they have but you can tell they are pretty
nervous. After we get the luggage and round them all up, we take the 5
minute drive or so into DC and show them the Lincoln Memorial. I
remember when we did that when I came in and that helped make it feel
real. It is an enjoyable time! That night, we go back to the Mission
Home and we eat a great dinner and share a little powerpoint about our
mission. That is probably one of my favorite days in terms of being an
assistant.
After President does interviews, we re-evaluate who should be training
what missionary. We all felt good about the trainers and so we started
to plan for an upcoming event. Sister Riggs volunteered to say a
prayer and right after the prayer was said, President Riggs decided to
make some changes. Elder White was going to be one of the trainers and
was already told that but President Riggs felt like he should be an
assistant. After a discussion, we agreed and so now I am in a trio
with both Elder Walters still and Elder White! Crazy how it all worked
out. The 3 W's.
We decided not to tell Elder White that night but to tell him right
before transfers. He was all ready to train a new missionary and then
he learned that he would be with us. He was excited because we are
both very good friends with Elder White. It has been a lot of fun
having him here with us and the trio life is a blast!
Now let me explain about this last week. The reason we did not email
on Monday is because President Riggs really wanted to bike the W&OD
Trail. His whole time being here he has wanted to do it but just never
made it a priority. The reason the bike ride is cool is because you go
from one end of the mission to the other. It is a 45 mile ride. You'll
have to look it up on the internet later and see the trail. It is so
cool to see the different terrains and places. We started the ride at
about 10 and finished just after 2. We got back and we were exhausted
so we passed out and at that point had very little time to email. I
will try and send some form of pictures.
On Thursday, there was a big Mission President Seminar where all the
Mission Presidents got together with a few General Authorities and had
a big Seminar from Thursday to Saturday. We were assigned to be the
chauffeurs for those that flew in. We went to Dulles Airport in the
morning to pick up a big group of Mission Presidents and then
transported them to the Hotel they would be at. It was very exciting
to see all the different Mission Presidents And the personalities they
have. After dropping them off, we drove to Reagan and picked up Elder
Kacher, Elder Perkins, and Elder Hallstrom with there wives. We drove
for an hour with them and got to ask them questions and had great
discussions with them. That was such a neat day.
Saturday afternoon, we took the Mission Presidents to the airport and
before dropping them off, we went to the Dulles Air and Space Museum
and showed them around. I had never been there so I thought that was
such a cool day! It is incredible all the different things to see in
that building. I also have pictures of that.
It has been busy! I love you and am excited to hear about your week!
Love,
Elder Westover
