Hey Everyone!

 

It was great to see you and talk to you this week. I enjoyed hearing your voice and seeing your face. You slowly start to forget those small features about someone. But I had a great Christmas! I enjoyed the things we did and all the gifts I got were so perfect! Everyone is jealous of that Bluetooth speaker you got me! It works super well! How did Christmas there go? Any fun gifts or new things you all did?

 

So in this area, there has been a TON of success in the past but it seems to have really slowed down. My companion told me that they had not done a lot of tracting and so I decided we better start talking to more people. Elder Ballard in Conference said that if we wanted to teach more we needed to talk to more people. Pretty simple but it seems to be working. We found some new people to teach and already our numbers look a lot better! I just really like going to areas where it is lacking or not reaching its full potential because it gives me the drive to make it a great place. It feels good to look and see the work you have done. I am super excited to see what the Lord will bless us with. I know that when you work hard and really lean on Him, He will lead and guide you.

 

How is work and life treating you? I hope you have enjoyed this Christmas and the New Year coming up! Thanks for everything you gave me for Christmas it really means a lot. Have a good week!

 

Love,

Elder Westover 

Hello Everyone,

 

Well as you know, I have been transferred. But not just cities, I am pretty much in a new country. I have moved from the Washington DC South Mission to Little Africa. Seriously, everyone is from some place in Ghana or Cameroon or Nigeria. It is so insane. The missionaries have good success here because the people are so accepting of the gospel. But honestly it is so weird to be here.

 

I have got one package from you but I am guessing that it is all in my last area so I will have to get that! It is so sad leaving before Christmas. I loved the ward I was in and we had such awesome plans. It has been tough for me but I am making it work. I know that we are going to have so much success here. I just got to get working. 

Our ward building is about 5 minutes from Washington's home and if you look out the church doors you can see the Potomac! It is cool you should look it up! 2000 George Washington Parkway! Cool eh? The ward had a baptism on Saturday, one on this Tuesday and another on Saturday. Its crazy here!

 

How is everything there? Excited for Christmas! I am so jealous but hey I knew what I was signing up for. How is the family? I hope to see pictures soon. Love you Dad and hope you are safe! Laura said Merry Christmas!

 

My new address is: 5811 Woodlawn Gable Dr. K, Alexandria, Va 22309

Love,

Elder Westover

Mission Christmas Conference

Hey Everyone,

I can't believe that it's Christmas time.  It honestly does not feel like it at all this year.  It is one of those things that you just get up and you go out and work no matter what the date is.  It has been a strange feeling seeing lights and everything but really not feeling like it is here.  When it gets closer it might start to hit.

Well, this week was tough.  People here are soo busy and with it being Christmas just even more busy than before.  It was hard to find people and to get people to find time for us.  That was a bummer.  I know that whenever you have a hard week you always see a miracle right after so I can't wait to see what happens!

It seems like you are getting prepared back home. I know it will be hard to know that the whole family will be there for Christmas Eve singing carols and having the Christmas program and missing it but I will be happy to know you are happy!

Well, transfers are this week and I have no idea if I will stay or go.  The bummer is that it will be right before Christmas and so I am not sure where I will be!  If I stay here, Christmas will be lots of fun but if not then I have no idea.  That will be interesting..

I hope you have a good holiday and enjoy the time of year.  Life is good here and I am learning and growing everyday.  I am studying the New Testament now and finished Luke today.  The Savior did some incredible things and I hope I can be half of what he was and try to represent Him.  I love this work and this Gospel.  Love you all!

Love,
Elder Westover

Hey Everyone!

The first snow has fallen! It has been a lot of fun actually.  They cancelled the 2nd and 3rd hours of church because of it and school today is also cancelled. The people here are big babies.  It really is not that bad at all. The assistants told us to stay in unless we needed to go out so we were not able to watch the Christmas Devotional.  None of our investigators were able to go either but the mission president really did not want us out. 

The snow has been fun! We went with the Elders in the Centreville 1st ward and the sisters in our ward and played in the snow at our complex.  We built snowmen and had a snowball fight.  The snow was not great but we had fun. I enjoyed just playing in it and having fun.

This week went great!  Every single lesson was with a member present which is super cool!  I am really proud of what this area has become.  I was reading in my journal from my first few weeks, not finding a person to teach and still having no one to work with was so hard.  Now, we have 10 to 12 people in our teaching pool and have 5 less active members that we are working with just feels really good. The Lord has blessed me so much here. The hard work pays off.  

Transfers are coming up and I have no idea what is going to happen. Either way, I have made great friends here in the ward and we have really got this area going!

Christmas time is here or so they say!  It really does not feel like December.  Time has been flying. I really want some Christmas Cd's like Michael Buble' or Bing Crosby; just classic stuff.  If you could send that stuff it would be awesome!  We can't listen to the radio but Christmas music is OK as long as it's a CD or IPod.  They say 16 days until Christmas but I am still waiting for Halloween to come.  It really is strange.

I love hearing about all the things going on at home.  With Aunt Kelli and Grandpa's talk and Christmas preparations!  I hope you have a safe week and a Merry Christmas! Love you all!

Love,

Elder Westover

These are crowns made from Origami! Also, a member made us these cookies that looked like turkeys! It was so awesome!

 

Hey family and friends!

It was fun to hear your Thanksgiving plans! I really missed playing/ watching football. It killed me not to be able to, but you just have to sacrifice some things in life. I also got all those pictures this week. I was going to say that was a lot of them. But it was fun to see all the things you have been up to.

The teaching is going well. I remember my first weeks here we did not teach a single lesson and now, I have been able to teach anywhere from 5 to 10 lessons a week which is very good for this area. It feels good to know that the hard work you put in pays off. I really do work hard and try my best. I have seen so much growth in my gospel knowledge and ability to teach with the spirit. I am excited to see what the Lord will make of me in this mission and for these people!

We are teaching some awesome people! There are two brother in laws from Brazil who we are teaching now. One is a man named Mauricio and he is very religious! He goes to 3 Baptists churches and has read the New Testament over 100 times and I believe him! The other is Leo and he has literally zero faith in God. It is super strange! But they are fun to talk to and I hope that they will read the Book Of Mormon and continue to grow in the gospel.

We are also teaching a man named Kevin. When we met him, he told us that he was looking around for different churches and trying to find the right one. Well perfect we would love to talk to you! We have taught him the first lesson and gave him a Book Of Mormon. We hope he is reading and praying! He said he would like to come to church so we should see him on Sunday!

So Transfers are on the 19th and so I don't know where I will be. But yeah you can send it to my place and I will get it. The mission has made a big deal about only sending mail to us so if you could let people know my address and that rule, that would be great. It is silly since they told us before I left only to the mission home but they changed it. Oh well.

My companion is awesome! I love Elder Fitzgerald! We have been together since the beginning of October and it has been tons of fun! It would be crazy if we stayed together for 3 transfers because that hardly EVER happens but we just might. I guess time will tell. He is from Rexburg Idaho and it's been a pleasure serving with him.

Crazy story! I had a gun pulled on me this week which was a new experience. Well kind of, he had it in his hand when he opened the door. That was insane! But I am doing great! No worries!

I am excited for this week. I feel like good things are going to happen. I know that if I work hard and give 110 percent, the Lord will bless this area and this work. That is all I want! I hope that you have a good month and enjoy your Christmas break when it comes! Be safe! I love you and pray for you! Have a good week.

Love,
Elder Westover