1D 4 Life

Dear Family and Friends,

My companion is hilarious. This has been and will be one of those transfers where you just laugh hysterically all the time.  I wish I could share all of the little things we laugh about, but I'm 99% positive that none of you would think they were funny. So I'll spare you.  Just know that I love her dearly...From her One Direction obsession to her gluten-free-ness and her hatred of naturey things. But mostly I love that she can laugh at herself...and me.  We can both make mistakes and forgive each other and laugh and move on. I need her, and am so grateful for her!

Hence the Subject Line, which I decided ought to be dedicated to her. For those of you less-cultured:  1D=One Direction=Uber-popular boy band from the UK.  

The one miracle that I didn't mention to President that should be documented is that ****** came into the Visitors' Center to see me! You probably don't remember her...she was my investigator back in the Malibu days at the very beginning of the mission. Part Member Family-Less Active husband. She basically dropped us but said we could still be friends right before I got transferred. And then she was kind of mean to the other sisters. She's the reason I'm still in a fight with Palisades Presbyterian church.  B/c that's where she's basically a registered member. (They were trying to decide between us and the Presbyterians and since the Presbyterian doctrine is just so much more convenient to live...) Long story short, she likes me and decided to come visit me at the Visitors' Center. The timing was most interesting of all b/c I had just thought of her that very morning w/ the thought that I needed to get her contact info so that I could invite her to my Departing Missionary Fireside/help her feel the spirit again. And then I found out that the sisters had just called and set up a time to meet with them again. SO. These are all good signs. Let's keep her in our prayers, shall we? 

Businessy items:

I am not trunky. Don't worry. But I had some thoughts I thought I'd share.

Next transfer, I will probably have to sing something at the Departing Missionary Fireside. Here's why this is terrifying:  No musical number ever goes well at the Departing Missionary Fireside. I don't know why. But really, it doesn't matter how talented you are...you just don't sound good at that particular event.  Long story short, I'm terrified.  But I'd love to be sent some sheet music of a few songs that are really cool and powerful and easy-ish to sing for Alto-y voices that might be somewhat lesser-known so my so-so voice won't be compared to MoTab or other famous artists who everyone has heard them from...you know? i.e. The Olive Tree, Instrument of Thy Peace, One Voice (the Glasgows sang this once, I think).  Anyway, no one should stress, but I figure we/the Moffats might have a few good ones laying around. If you wanted to scan and e-mail them to me or mail them to me, I'd be so grateful.

Love you all so much. I pray for you and thank Heavenly Father for this incredible gift of a family I've been given.  Hope all is well.

Love,

Sister Wells

P.s. Pics!

My beautiful area, 

my companion, 

Her in her cute headphones watching videos about Family history for the 12-week Training Program, 

Robert at the piano playing his Book of Mormon composition (He is a regular at the Visitors' Center--has aspergers and is a brilliant musician. So sweet. LA and RC...we all invited him to read and pray about the BOM again. So he's doing that, and in the meantime, he wrote a song about his experience ;) 

Us on Christmas or New Years...can't remember. 

Oh, and the other pic on the last e-mail is of the Accountability section of our District Meeting. We do it in the Family History Center so we have all sorts of fancy video equipment. Just thought I'd once again show how different my mission is from those in Latin America. 

Getting mail after District Meeting

Sister S's sticker charts (she gets stickers and rewards for making calls in the Teaching Center, talking to people on the street, etc...it was her idea. She's an elementary ed major ;)

Crepe party with the Visitors' Center sisters this morning

Christmas Chaos in the Visitors' Center. Wrapping and presents and goodies and MORE FOOD THAN YOU CAN COMPREHEND. I was an anxious spoiled mess that day.

Christmas dinner w/ Sisters K, H, me, and Sister S

More pics of Christmas dinner...

More Christmas Locura. There's a picture of Claire on here :)

More Christmas...and Sis J came to visit!

The Visitors' Center Schedule :)  

One of the Farsi Elders' Tags

Pictures of us at the Getty Villa in Malibu...the little kids' section was smattered with mormon.org advertising...

Sis F rockin' the Visitors' Center floor w/ a guest

McDonald's on New Year's Eve

Sister A singing at the New Year's Eve program (we all sang, but I didn't get a pic, so sorry)

...That was a lot of pics. So sorry.

Hello President,

It's been another great week in the Westwood 1st ward. Though we have ended up dropping most of our recently-found investigators, we did have one of them come to sacrament meeting yesterday! ****  is a little slow-paced, but we feel strongly that he'll continue to progress forward. I get the feeling that he has social anxiety issues, so I think that keeps him from being too excited about meeting with us (which he hasn't done for a full week now) and from committing to three full hours of church and meeting new people. But he says he likes everything overall, and that he'll definitely "be back soon." Again, not entirely sure what that means...but we have high hopes! In the meantime, our finding efforts have got to increase. We're figuring out the 20 conversations a day. I know we can do it if we have enough faith. It's just having the faith...we're working on it. 

Yesterday was a day of miracles. We got to church early to talk to bishop for a minute or two about an idea we had in working with members. It was just an extension of one of the goals he had already discussed with the ward called "The Next Step." It's similar to an idea used in the Mar Vista ward, and we feel like it will help members in taking those "small steps" in reaching out to the people around them. He was really excited about it! And from what we understand, we handed it to him just as he found out about the meeting with Elder A next week regarding the ward mission plan, etc...so we hope he finds it helpful. So that was Little miracle #1. 

And then as soon as we finished our conversation with Bishop, we walk out front to meet ****. And HE WAS THERE!!! (As opposed to the week before, when he wasn't there) ...In a suit and a tie. Nothing makes me happier than seeing an investigator at church in a suit and a tie, President. My heart swells at the thought. He is the first investigator we have had at church in the entire time I have served here, which kind of makes me want to cry tears of joy and exhaustion all at once...but I really am just so happy he came. And of course every single testimony was PERFECT...I have a deep, heartfelt testimony of fast and testimony meetings. They are powerful conversion tools for every person involved. 

Then, in the visitors' center yesterday, we had two different tours with non-members that more or less ended in a self-referral. One was with a somewhat recent convert and his non-member mother, and I can't even begin to tell you how powerful it was to watch the love of a son manifest itself as he bore his testimony and shared his conversion. When they first walked in, they told the front desk that they didn't want a tour...but when we caught up with them later on, it was obvious that that was exactly what they needed. Though we won't get to follow up with the mom (because the son explained that he would make sure the missionaries got to her), she was excited to get a copy of the Book of Mormon and to start meeting with missionaries. 

The other tour was with Mr. M. He is an eagle scout who grew up around Mormons, read some of the Book of Mormon, and had even enrolled himself in some Institute classes once...and yet he claimed that he had never been invited to meet with missionaries. So, after briefly explaining the Restoration in the Special Witnesses exhibit, we did just that. And he was beyond open to the invitation. It was almost bizarre how open he was actually. It kind of felt like he was just strolling right into the font, you know? And we were just sort of there to guide him there. Story of my miraculous mission life. 

And of course all of these miracles happened at those particular moments of personal need. 

Other accountability:

We fasted with the mission and had miraculous experiences because of it. It feels good to be a a part of something this big.

I finished El Libro de Mormon! Before the end of 2013! So I was a little behind the rest of the mission...but I finished! And it was powerful. 

We are up-to-date-ish with 12-week, and it has been very well-timed for us. Sister S is gaining more and more confidence and I am loving getting to know her on a personal level. She shared a personal experience in a lesson the other day that just blew us all out of the water. She connected with **** on a level that I have never managed. She is supposed to be here. This week, one of our goals in companionship unity in teaching. We will try to pray for each other in lessons while the other is speaking. We decided we both just need to be more in tune with the spirit to ensure that the "pass-off" is more inspired, balanced, and timely. She is a solid missionary, and I'm worried she doesn't feel like she can contribute. Still figuring out how to make others feel their best. Only the very best teachers can do that, and it'll take a whole lot more Chapter 6 application in my life to get there. So that's where my personal goals are. I just want to want nothing more than to help others be their best, but my pride-infested heart isn't there. But...to quote myself, "I'm workin' on it." :)

Sister F and I are prayerfully preparing for the arrival of the new director. Any suggestions of preparations we ought to be making? We are trying to define the current culture of the Visitors' Center and make necessary improvements.

President, have you read the book "The Power of Everyday Missionaries"? I'm assuming you have. It was the theme of Mar Vista Ward and the Santa Monica stake...and it will be the first non-scriptural book I'll read when I get home. Have you encouraged all of the ward and stake leaders to read it? Is that an appropriate suggestion for you to make? 

I look forward to the accountability of interviews next week. Two of my MTC teachers have written me recently and asked me those impossibly heavy questions of why I'm here and what I've done and who I am now...etc. My heart feels weird when I try to answer those and I kind of feel like crying, so I've avoided responding. We'll see what comes out as I write today. I'll give you the update at interviews.

President, I'm ever-grateful for you and your wonderful wife. We feel of your love and trust and often don't feel deserving...but again, just grateful. You can trust that I'm doing what I can to build the faith necessary to move the work forward here. 

Have a wonderful week! You're in our prayers.

Love,

Sister Wells

Another note:  

My companion is humble and wonderful. We laugh all the time, but I am most impressed with her ability to laugh at herself and me when we both make stupid mistakes.  She is incredibly competent to begin with, but even when she does make a mistake, we laugh it off and fix it and move forward.  And she does the same with me and my innumerable in-competencies as a trainer.  She is so forgiving and so humble and good-humored.  I just wanted to point out this attribute because I think it's what makes her and what will continue to make her a really solid servant of the Lord.  It all comes back to Chapter 6, you know? :)

...Just wanted you to know.

SO GOOD TO TALK TO YOU!!!

Hey fam! 

It was so good to talk you on Christmas! It was truly perfect, so thank you. Except that I missed the Rudds and Jill...so. You best be there in March. 

And BLANKET THANK YOU FOR ALL OF THE PERFECT GIFTS. I'm horribly spoiled and so overwhelmingly grateful. 

I love you all so much! The church is True. God knows us and loves us. Read the e-mail below.

Love,

Sister Wells

P.s. Pics next week.

Hello President,

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! I hope you enjoyed Christmas with your family. Ours was wonderful!!

Of course I'll join in the fast next week, and of course I plan on being in an eternal friendship with the Weidmans!  I'll keep you on a semi-regular e-mail list.  

I don't have the "Consecrated Missionary" talk in front of me to compare, but I do recall a specific section about flirting, etc.  It was the theme of our zone conference earlier this year, so the assistants should have a copy. Let me know what you think.

I'm feeling humbled by your request that we maintain a higher standard of modesty than of late. I have felt myself slipping a bit in my mindset regarding the matter, and I am excited to re-commit to being a more obvious representative of the Lord.  

Companionship report:  Sister S and I are bonding.  I feel her becoming more comfortable with herself in general and especially in teaching situations.   During the busy time in the Visitors' Center, we have had a lot of opportunities to teach on our own--which she was nervous to do at first, but has done really well with.  Now we're working on teaching in unity.  We had a great experience in companionship study last night where we practiced teaching the Restoration as simply as possible.  I feel her confidence growing with each practice.  

I gave a talk in sacrament meeting yesterday about Charity. I included some of the thoughts I shared with you in last week's e-mail.  Thanks again for letting me share, and for being excited about the novels I send every year!

Church was a little bit disappointing.  We had expected 3-4 investigators and were once again saddened by the 0 that actually attended.  Though I suppose it is important to take into account the holiday season and the fact that very few members were there either.  

MIRACLE:  

After district meeting on Friday, we rushed to an appointment that we had made the day before while tracting (probably my 5th time tracting in my entire mission...I know. Pride. I'm repenting.)...only to be told that ***** was not actually that interested so we didn't need to come back ever again.  Disappointing.

Our back-up plan was to go home and make calls/organize some of our area/make a Progress Record, etc.  So, we get to our apartment at about 2:15pm or so (our Visitors' Center shift starts at 3pm), but on the whole drive home, I have that heart-racing feeling that we needed to be street contacting...and that we needed to go over to the Veteran/Ohio-area where street contacting was actually effective.  But of course, this would contradict our plans--which we had prayed about the night before. So I ignored it for a while until we actually walk into our apartment.  While we're pulling out the things we need to organize, I'm still feeling indecisive and anxious. So I grab one of the little note cards from my stack (Before my mission, I had all of my friends write words of advice/scriptures/quotes/jokes/etc. on a few hundred note cards for me to read on each day of my mission. It may sound trunky, but it has turned out to be one of the better ideas I have ever had in my life. Loads of tender mercies and miracles. Like this one)...and it says "Follow the spirit. Keep it up."  So simple. Had I read it at any other moment of my mission, I likely would have been a little disappointed.  But instead, I throw it down and tell Sister S that I feel like we need to go out and contact.  She, of course, is totally game and feeling the same way!  So, we go to Veteran's Park.  We easily pull into a typically hard-to-find parking spot and I receive yet another confirmation that we're in the right place.  We pray, and then we immediately start talking with every person we see.  Sister S even starts some of the conversations, and she does a PHENOMENAL job.  But unfortunately, none of the first 6 people we talk to are even remotely interested. Some are even mildly rude.  But of course we pray for them anyway...and as 2:40 hits, we decide we need to start heading back to the car. So, I say a prayer and let Heavenly Father know that we know we're supposed to be here...so we can happily leave and hope that we did something He needed us to...but that if He wanted to let us know what it was exactly, that'd be great...And as I finish this little prayer in my head, we see ****** pushing her little son in the swing nearby.  We go up and start talking to her. She said they just moved there and that she'd love to come try out the church on Sunday.  And then we go over and start talking to her husband sitting nearby and he tells us that he has always wondered about God and families and stuff.  So, Sister S briefly teaches him the Restoration (in one of the most effective summaries I have ever heard) and we set up a return appointment.  

...and that's how we found the family we have been praying for.

They didn't call us back to confirm the appointment, so...who knows what'll happen now. BUT we know we were in the right place at the right time and that they needed/need the message we shared/will continue to share. 

I love the work more than ever.  Praying to be more consecrated than ever, and just...figuring it out, you know? 

Thanks for everything. I look forward to interviews soon. We love you and pray for you both!

Love,

Sister Wells

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Pictures: 

Christmas Devotional w/ the Weidmans (Love them so much)

Christmas Devotional w/ my "posterity"  (judge me. I swore I'd never take one of these.) My new companion is just to the right of me. SO CUTE. Sister Stratford. From Riverton, UT. Age 20. Cheered in high school and loves One Direction & U of U Football. She's a girly girl and she OWNS it, so it's just adorable, you know? She is also very real and has a beautiful testimony. 

And...2 random sisters at the Patron Apartments. Sis. Thomson and Sis. Lopez. 

President Weidman,

My heart is still overflowing from the Christmas devotional.  Thank you and your beautiful wife for the thought and inspiration that was put into that.  The spirit was strong and I received personal witness of the Savior's love for my weak and simple self. 

And thank you for our lunch conversation about charity.  I feel like I am often blessed with those extra opportunities to talk with you one-on-one so often.  I really appreciate it.  Especially since I was asked to give a talk about charity in church this week :)

My thoughts about charity continued as I read in 3 Nephi 28 (I'm behind, but I'm going to finish by Christmas!) about the 3 Nephites.  3 Nephi 28:9-10  "...and all this will I do because of the thing which ye have desired of me, for ye have desired that ye might bring the souls of men unto me, while the world shall stand.  And for this cause ye shall have fulness of joy; and ye shall sit down in the kingdom of my Father; yea, your joy shall be full, even as the Father hath given me fulness of joy; and ye shall be even as I am, and I am even as the Father..."  and then it goes on in verse 18 to talk about what they actually did:  "they did go forth upon the face of the land, and did minister unto all the people, uniting as many to the church as would believe in their preaching; baptizing them, and as many as were baptized did receive the Holy Ghost."  

...There it is. Our missionary purpose.  I'm just prayin' for that level of consecration, you know?  And yet I'm not sure if my heart wants it enough to be willing to pay the price for it.  The capacity of joy which equals the capacity to love as the Savior did...but I feel like that capacity to love comes with the price of increasing our capacity to endure suffering.  But perhaps not. I need to ponder that out more. Just wanted to continue our thoughts of the other day.  

Jesus

Others

Yourself  (But J & O are kind of the same, right?)

We're working on our 20 conversations a day!  We made an especially concentrated effort on Saturday, which was really our only day in our area all week.  We didn't quite make it to 20 with the time that we had, but we did find a new investigator who seems pretty open and interested!  We're trying to decide if we need to make our conversations more efficient or if that would make us sloppy and out of tune.  We just need to practice more, I think.  Sister is doing well in contacting.  She was confident, genuine, and friendly.  I could see the blessings of that first day training you put them through.  

Sister S is wonderful, of course.  Her testimony is so real and sincere and honest. I thoroughly admire that about her.  She's a sweetheart.  I hope you get to hear her conversion story sometime. 

We have barely started the 12-week program due to the Christmas schedule in the Visitors' Center, but we're hoping to get caught up this week. Because we'll technically have 7 weeks this transfer, I'm not too worried about getting behind.  Though we will definitely make it a priority so that she can feel more comfortable in teaching situations.  

By the way, I thoroughly appreciated those new missionary trainings. They were efficient and inspired.  I even enjoyed the "Lock Your Heart" talks given.  I really appreciate that you took the time to emphasize these principles from the very beginning of their missions (and to review them fore those of us older folks).  I'll be honest in saying that while I'm a "fan"/have a testimony of the doctrine behind locking your heart and keeping your whole self focused on the work, I find the actual "Lock Your Heart" talk slightly less than inspiring.  I feel like it gives extreme examples that allow me in my pride to exempt myself from some of its teachings.  My struggles on the mission regarding this particular principle have more to do with keeping all of my heart focused on my purpose (and allowing the Lord to consecrate my heart--as discussed in Elder Callester's "Consecrated Missionary" talk) than keeping myself from clipping toenails and other extreme instances of disobedience.  I think it would be more helpful to frequently review the appropriate relationships between elders and sisters...or to find a way to teach it that spiritually motivates rather than scares.  

...On the other hand, I think we all caught the jist of the principle you were trying to emphasize. So maybe a change is unecessary. Just wanted to give you my thoughts.  I hope you read them in the most humble voice your mind could muster...because I really did appreciate those talks. 

Miracles:

We have been praying for ****, our former investigator with a back story that's too big to share in this e-mail.  So, after a month and a half of no contact, she walked into the Visitors' Center a few nights ago with her boyfriend, *******.  After chatting with her briefly, she less-than-subtly implied that she's ready to start things up again. She even attended the Westwood 2nd ward with her boyfriend on Sunday.  We couldn't be more thrilled!  We'll keep you updated.

On Thursday, we literally had a total of 2 minutes in our area outside of 1 appointment we went to...and in those 2 minutes, we managed to contact 2 people who were both interested in learning more.  The Lord consecrates the time, President.  It's a real thing.

The Visitors' Center has been packed, but I feel myself still being able to teach and talk with people by the Spirit.  That's been a beautiful experience. And a miracle.

Thanks for all you do, President. I pray you have a wonderfully merry Christmas with your family! 

We love you!

Sister Wells