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...