Hey Everybody,

I am sorry that I am writing you on a Tuesday! Yesterday we had a Conference with a General Authority. It was Elder Kopischke and it was a great meeting. But anyway, I had a great week. We have baptismal dates set up with a few people right now. Sarita and Sabrina are two girls that we have been teaching. The Dad was baptized the first week I was here and now the girls want to be baptized. They have been in the Primary Program and are just doing so great. That date is November 15th. Also, a lady named Aminata is planning to be baptized on the 15th as well, as long as we can teach her everything quick enough. She lives with her cousin Samuella, who has come to church the past 3 weeks and is just on fire right now. Samuella was baptized in Maryland and lost contact with the church when she moved here recently. It has been great!

Also, Fanus is on date for the last week in October and so we are really going to need to help her to pray and know this is true. We took her to the visitors center this past week and I think she enjoyed it. The only issue for her is that she does not see why authority is needed. She was baptized before and has always believed that when you are married that you can be together forever. So, it is this battle we are playing but if she will pray about it then she will get an answer it is all true.I am not sure how else to explain it to someone without just telling them straight up but I think everything will work out for them.

For Halloween, we are watching two movies that night. Frozen and How to Train Your dragon 2. Everyone is excited for that time and I think it will be a fun night and a good boost for everyone. I think that if you let it distract you then it will be hard but if you have fun with it and get back to work, you really feel re-motivated.

Thanks for your emails. They are great. I love you and hope that you have a good week. Any cool Golf stories recently?

Love,
Elder Westover

Hey Everybody!

Alexandria has been a great place! This past week, we were just super
busy. We have been teaching tons of lessons, meeting new people, and
having crazy miracles all over the place. At church, we had the
primary program and a lot of people were able to come and to check it
out.

Our Mission has been pushing member work like crazy! What we do is we
go into members home for 15 to 20 minutes and teach about something.
The whole point is to increase their desire to share the gospel and
help them keep it on there mind. We also want to increase trust with
them. I have never really worked with members on my mission and it is
hard! I think it is easier to just go out and talk to people or knock
doors, but I am really wanting to make these member lessons work.  Our
zone went from 44 a week to 70 last week! It was a good jump and
everyone is hoping the members will help us.

I can't believe Tanner is home. That seems so crazy. I feel like it
was so short for him. Kayla and Laura will both get home in the next 2
months and I just think it is scary how fast it goes... But it is fun
and is a crazy roller coaster all the time!

It is funny you asked. I am not actually in the same zone that I was as a district leader, but we have
singles wards and so our missionaries cover that area. They have bigger areas. So
we went out with them to go find this week and they had chose to go to
my old area! It was so weird to be there and to do missionary work. We
met two people, one we walked with for 10 minutes to her house and
talked about the gospel. Then, we knocked one door and a lady opened
and let us in. We figured out she was meeting with the missionaries,
and that her date for baptism had passed. We recommitted her to the
22nd of November and then called those missionaries. They were pretty
stoked! Haha That was a great area!

It's always good to hear from you! I hope you have a great week.  It's fun to hear about the things happening at home.

Love,
Elder Westover

Hello family and friends,

I think that we get to email way to much! Every time I sit down I try to think about what I did and I just go blank. I know we did a ton, but it takes a few minutes to remember.

To start off, Monday, we went to Burlington Coat Factory with a group of Elders to look at ties and shoes. We were planning to be there for 25 minutes and ended up being there for like 2 hours! I will send a lot of the pictures from that it was seriously a ton of fun. The whole time, we were just trying things on and it was fun to see what the other guys thought looked good. We were just laughing and I never EVER thought I would have fun shopping. I guess I was for sure wrong. Then on Tuesday, we went on exchanges with some other missionaries in our zone for the day. On exchanges, we do some training and the biggest thing is just going out and working super hard. Helping them to see that missionary work is fun and that it is more fun when you work hard and are good at it. Haha  But it went well and I know I left with things I could work on but you just hope the other missionary did as well.

On Thursday, we had our Transfer Meeting and it was a whole mission conference because we went and saw Meet The Mormons. Well, we went to the church building and watched it. I love being able to see all your friends around the mission and also getting to see how they are doing and what is new with them, but the movie was way good, it was just hard to sit and look at a screen for that long. It is a little embarrassing but true. I just struggled sitting still!

Transfers went great! I am staying with Elder Taylor and I am pumped about that. We get along really well and have had fun serving together. Our zone also got a lot of cool missionaries and I think that will be a big bonus on our end.  Friday, as a result, was spent moving everyone's stuff to where it goes and making sure they have everything they need. Lots of driving and talking for Elder Taylor and I. We have some good music that we jam out to though, like the Mormon Tabernacle Choir! :) On Saturday, we had a few appointments and so we tried calling around to the other members of the ward for help. We called 26 people and only 2 said they could go. We left like 15 voice mails and only 2 called back. Working with members can be extremely tough so if the missionaries call, just answer! We needed one more member and right then, President Riggs sent out a text that he wanted to come to a lesson and call him if you were interested. So within the minute we called and he came with us! It was super freaky but it went way good and we got tons of Praise Of Men from him. Then he came to church so that he could see the lady again and so it was constant best behavior mode for us this weekend!

Well, I hope to hear more of you about all the fun you're having at home! What else has been going on? Have a great week. I love you tons!

Love,
Elder Westover

Hello Everybody,

I am so sorry I did not write last week. We went to DC and so we had to take off super quick! The DC trip was so cool. We parked our car at the 23rd St. Chapel in Arlington and then rode along the Potomac on the bikes and across Key Bridge into DC! I will say that is was one of the neatest bike rides I have ever done. We biked to the White House and to The Washington Monument and then parked up and walked around. The cool part was that there were 6 of us and it was cool biking around DC with the white shirts and ties in a long line juking through traffic. A very cool experience.

This week was full of twists and turns. It all started with a companionship in our zone that had all zeros and had done absolutely nothing the whole week. What we decided to do was to go and study with them in the morning and to just talk to them and see how we could help. We got there at like 8:15 and when we knocked on there door we got no answer. After 5 times of that and no answer, we went to there window and started banging on it. They heard us and one of them opened their door and you could tell he was a little nervous. We just sat down and started studying. One of them was awake and the other just kept sleeping. We had a good talk with the one and then left and reported to their District Leader. After the visit, that one missionary decided to shape up and told President everything that had been going on, even to the point that the one that was sleeping is no longer in Virginia. It was sad to see him go and I wonder if we had done everything we could to help him. President Riggs was thankful for the way we handled it but it was hard. The talks on conference were about making good choices and adjusting our lives to match and to follow the Savior. It sounds so easy but really takes so much application and dedication. If these Elders would have made small choices early on, it would have completely changed the way all this happened. It really is hard to see it and I am sure this is how our Heavenly Father feels when He sees us fall off the path.

I can't wait for the Phoenix Temple. That is going to be great having it so close and being able to go frequently. That will be a huge blessing. I still can not comprehend that Football started. I had no clue BYU was that good and that ASU was doing well. It sounds like it has been a good season for those teams beside the injuries that have gone on. As long as they are good next year that is all that matters right?

I will send pictures of the trip we had and some other moments. I love you! Have a great week and continue to apply the words of the Prophets into your life. I miss you and will see you..eventually! :)

Love,
Elder Westover