Chillaxin' by fountain

Chillaxin' by fountain

Weston with friends

Weston and other missionaries by fountain

Letter dated 23Sept2013

[Dear family and friends, Here is the letter we received from Weston this morning. I hope you enjoy it as we did! If you have a reply for Weston, simply reply to this note and I will forward your note to Weston. We hope you are enjoying our new Autumn season! Love, Weston's editor - BWS] Dear Family, I know that the mission is the greatest experience of my life. I´m reminded daily for why that is but this week was something very special and I´m never going to forget what is happening in my mission right now at this moment. Honestly, every day in the mission is the first day for every missionary and I´m glad that I have learned how true that is. The mission can seem to be a chore if we don´t treat it right but thankfully the Lord has helped me during my time that I know that what I´m doing is the right thing to do. As I think back to my past experiences in my mission, I analyze my past areas and companions and just how perfect everything lead me to where I am today. I have had things to fix and improve, yes, and those experiences were not necessarily the choice decisions I might have made, but it showed me what the difference is between devoting yourself to the work and to go by the steps without reason. I thought that when I first got here to Valencia that it was a paradise (which it is) and that I was just very lucky to have good companions during this entire year, but then during the past few weeks especially I realized just how amazing Valencia is- when you've got the right missionary attitude about teaching and sharing the gospel. If I could, I would end my mission here and this is why. The work here in Valencia is progressing more than I have ever seen it progress during my entire time here and this week was nothing short of miraculous. We have been progressing with Monday and Loveth (2 investigators) who are very excited for their baptism this Saturday, but they've been in a very sketchy situation where they´re living. They are staying with some friends from Mali are are nice people, but they enjoy the party/drinking scene too much and it especially upsets Loveth to have to stay in that house. We were talking in correlation meeting about how we can help these two stay active after their baptism and then the idea came up to ask another recent convert, Caroline, if Monday and Loveth would be able to move in. Caroline had just recently found a fantastic piso, big enough to house many people and would be a family friendly environment without a doubt! When this idea was presented to Caroline, who also has a daughter with a baptismal date, she was more than happy to help them with their situation! We visited Mustafa, a man from Cameroon and a very good friend of our recent convert Joseph, and in the very first lesson he committed to a baptismal date, attend a baptismal service the following day, attend church the next day, and read in the Book of Mormon and we were happy to see him at both services and to find out that he was working hard to be ready for his baptism and follow the example of Jesus Christ. I think that training Elder Benton has helped me figure his out and I can say that training has been the only thing I've aspired to do in the mission and it has certainly paid off in helping me reach my personal goals as a missionary. While he does not feel completely comfortable to train at this point in his mission, he has learned so much during his time with me and I can say that he has his heart in the mission. But on the crazy side of things, we were in a Chino (just a small Chinese run store that´s like a mini Walmart) last Monday with lots of other missionaries and as we were about to leave I looked at a bunch of magnets and in the center I saw a magnet of the First Vision. (Joseph's Smith's vision of seeing Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ) I paused, gawked at it, then grabbed it and asked the owner how much it was and bought it on the spot! With a fully scoop of love and tons of chocolate syrup, -- Élder Xander Weston Schindler PS We have to go back, Kate...

Letter dated 16Sept2013

[Dear family and friends, here is today's letter from Weston. If you have a note you would like to send to him, you can simply reply to this letter - and I'll forward your note to him! I hope you're having a wonderful September! Best regards, Weston's editor - BWS] Dear Family, Okay, so I´ve been in Spain for a while and I don´t want to freak any of you out but I think it´s about time I told you... they speak Spanish here, yet they don´t eat tacos! =O Just kidding! But seriously, they don´t.. This week was great and as I continue to get better, I have been left with an annoying cough that I can´t seem to cough out and a stuffy nose that I just can´t seem to unstuff! Besides that, I can work and teach again so that´s good! We are continuing to work with those two people I mentioned last week but I don´t think I mentioned who they are. They are both from Nigeria and the man´s name is Monday and the woman´s name is Loveth (I thought her name was ´´Love It´´ the first time she said her name :D) and they have been doing good. It´s been a strange week because she got sick and then they didn't come to church yesterday but we have a visit with them tonight so I hope that they will continue to feel the spirit and that they´ll keep their commitments. I´m also getting a bit nervous that my mission is getting closer to it´s end.. I want to end it right and especially since I´m with Elder Benton, I have tons of motivation to do that! I don´t know if I´ll be blessed to end my mission here in Valencia or if there is one more area in store for me, but regardless, I´m excited for the future and for what everything holds in it! I love you bunches of oats, -- Élder Xander Weston Schindler PS We have to go back, Kate...

Christian's baptism!

Weston at Oceanografic!

Proof Weston was there!

Oceanografic

Weston and companion with church member

Waiting for the train - with style!

Letter dated 9Sept2013

[Dear family and friends, I hope you are enjoying a beautiful September! Here is our latest letter from Weston. He also sent some pictures which I will post on his blog! If you have a message for Weston, you can simply reply to this note - and I will forward your note to him! Take care! Weston's editor - BWS] Dear Family and Friends, This week was quite the adventure to remember! This week the other elders arrived in our area so we welcomed them into our ward and into our apartment and it´s been a blast since! Every day is just so fun and it´s given us even more drive to get at ´em! We successfully divided our area between the four of us and the Hermanas, [the sister missionaries] which didn't affect us too terribly, seeing as how the Hermanas have been hogging most of the ward boundary anyways! [I think there is a story here!] Today we had a very relaxing, very chill Preparation Day and went out with the zone to travel around parts of the center of Valencia and the park, ending the day over by Oceanografic. Time is passing by super well here in the area and I´m continuing to love my time serving in this great city! The crazy moment of the week happened Saturday night as we were running very late to get to the church! We left the house of a lady that we are teaching and I thought quickly as to which direction would be the quickest to the Metro. I decided to take the unknown path and we started legging it in that direction. About 5 minutes go by and I realized that it would have been faster to go the other way, but we stayed on track. As we were going we ran into a man who called us over. He asked us why we hadn't called him and I was very confused, seeing as I did not recognize him, even though he swore that it was me who he had last spoken to. We instantly got his number and his address and he said that he would be coming to church the following day so we gave him the address to the chapel and make off. We say him the next day at church and he brought his wife and then we made a visit together with Clemxynn for later that night. When we started teaching them, the spirit was felt so strongly and they committed to baptism that night! I played that whole experience back with my companion about how had we not taken the way we did, or if we were not late from our visit. The Holy Ghost really was guiding us and we had no idea. We just went out and did, and the Lord blessed us with that wonderful experience! A bit of a downer this week was that I got very sick. Do you remember how the other Sunday I was feeling a bit under the weather? Yeah, well it got worse and by Tuesday I ended up calling Hermana Pace [the mission president's wife] and she told me to get some good rest and take some medicine. I did but then when I thought I would be okay I got sick by Wednesday night once again and then Thursday I was out for the entire day... It was the first time that I was completely bed-ridden on the mission but it turned out to be an incredible experience. For the first time ever in my mission I asked my companion for a Priesthood Blessing and I could hardly keep the tears back. I felt the power of the spirit and His love so strongly that for the rest of that time I could hardly put up with staying inside all day and not getting out to work. I knew that it was hurting the area but God knew what I would learn from this trial and now I´m back to running order and I´ll be sure to watch out for my health for the remainder of my mission. I know that God loves us and that he is constantly aware of our needs. All we need to do is call upon the powers of Heaven with a pure heart and real intention and he will answer our prayer. I love you all just ever so much, it makes me silly! -- Élder Xander Weston Schindler PS We have to go back, Kate..

Letter dated 2Sept2013

[Dear family and friends, here is the letter we received from Weston today. We are so excited about Joseph's and Christian's baptisms! I hope you are enjoying this Labor Day! If you have a message you would like to send to Weston, simply reply to this note -- and I will forward your message to him! Sincerely, Weston's editor] Dear Family, I was so incredibly blessed this past Saturday by seeing Christian baptized and later confimed! During August, we baptized Joseph and Christian, two completely different people yet when they came to be baptized there was a spirit at both of their services that people just couldn´t help but to cry. Both Elder Benton and Christian told me about how when Elder Benton went to baptize him he had a pounding headache, but as soon as he entered the water there was no headache. Christian also felt an energy as he was baptized and later, as they came back into the service room Elder Benton´s headache returned. The only way to describe it was the spirit working in the two of them. Also, to top things off, right now we have the exciting prospect to start again and teach Christian´s girlfriend, as she came to his baptism and confirmation and felt the spirit very strongly as well. We actually had an amazing week that we found quite a few new investigators. It was quite the experience for the week and we have several new opportunities that are opening up in our area. We are actually getting ready to receive two more elders this week and so we´ll be 6 in the Valencia 2nd ward. One of the elders is Elder Ashcroft, who was in the same district as I in Terrassa, so I´m very excited for the upcoming adventures. I don´t have a USB port on my computer, so I´ll send baptism photos next week! I love you all more than the moon and the sun (Elder Benton sends his British luv as well ^_^). Love, Weston