Well...hello again. 
I know i wrote you guys Thursday so nothing much has changed since 
then. but we have seen great progress in our search for new 
investigators and especially working with the less actives. President 
Zobrist is really hammering us on that. and the area....and the 
prophet...so it must be pretty important. we do have the promise that 
if we rescue those menos activos then we will baptize more 
investigators. so we will be focusing on that these next few weeks. 
Elder Priebe and i are doing very well. We are happy working together 
and we have enjoyed feeling the spirit as we teach and are able to 
watch these people change as they come closer to their savior. i just 
love teaching and people able to share the gospel. i really do. 
as for me. i am very happy. the area is great, the zone is working 
hard, and we are becoming more unified each day together. we have been 
trying to plan out those activities to help build the trust and unity 
in the zone and we have seen great results. we did a service project 
as a zone this last saturday and got to clean up this ladys backyard 
of all the stuff she has been storing for the last century. peruvians 
are such pack rats. but i love them!! 
Funny story about the service project: 
haha so we were cleaning up everything and had finished this one side 
of the yard. the lady has a ton of chickens and roosters there just 
running around and as we were all working on the other side of the 
yard....the wall on the side that we had finished comes crashing down! 
and it crashed on top of a chicken and a rooster!!! the whole zone was 
like...woah, those things are goners.... and the lady was freaking out 
saying save my chickens!!!! so me and this other elder run over there 
to start clearing out rocks to uncover the smashed chickens. well the 
chicken runs out a few seconds later and is squaking like crazy! so 
one saved, one dead....we thought. so we uncover a TON of rocks and 
underneath we find the rooster. not moving. we touched it and were 
like its dead. the lady was in disbelief and was frantic and then we 
move this rock off its head and POP. the head pops up and the thing 
jumps out and runs away!!!!! IT LIVED!!! couldnt believe it! so i did 
my good turn for the day :) the lady kept saying..you saved my 
rooster, thank you, thank you, thank you so much! haha she bought me 
Inca Kola and cooked the whole zone lunch. haha but we saved a life 
that day. :) 
 
sunday was ward conference and we had a huge turnout in the ward! 
160!!! we were so happy! great stuff. and we had a meeting with the 
stake president and are excited to get to be working with him. in the 
past he has hated the missionaries and there ahve been a ton of 
problems so elder priebe and i are trying to sort all that out and end 
those problems or the work here in moquegua will stop. and we are 
seeing some great results. excited about that. 
we have found 3 new investigators and have 3 others progressing 
towards their baptismal dates and the end of this month and for the 
first week in august. 
But it is my testimony that god lives. this is his work! i love being 
apart of it and serving him everyday. 
i loved the pictures that you sent me. dad, fantastic job on the shed. 
it looks awesome! you have always been an inspiration to me in 
buildiing and constructing things. great job! 
faith....what happened to your hair?? no se but HAPPY BIRTHDAY AGAIN! 
YOU ARE SO OLD!!!! and this week would be the big birthday of big 
jake!!!!! awesome man!!! love you so mucho. 
 
well i shall talk to you guys real soon. hasta lunes. 
love you all so much. 
 
Elder Birtcher 
1-4-3 
oh and please send a ton of fotos from the family reunion. i want to 
see them so bad!!! 
mom have fun getting ready for girls camp!! dont stress over it too 
much....you always do a great job!! 
 
-- 
*      Elder Birtcher* 
*Perú - Arequipa Mission* 

Hi guys!

Well i dont have any time. we are so busy around here doing everything. i am so tired. so it might just turn into a bullet point letter. but i am so jealous aobut the family reunion! sounded liked you guys had a BLAST!! i wish i couldve been there with you guys. 

but que dice la vida aqui. well. moquegua is great. i really really like it. my comp is great. the lord has blessed us with investigators that both have accepted baptismal dates for the end of the month and we are just running around all of moquegua doing things for hte zone. but i am happy and well. 

We did go back to arequipa this last monday for the meeting with president and teh leaders of the mission which turned out really great. learned a lot of great stuff and got to see a bunch of my good friends again in the mission. a lot of them will be leaving these next ocuple of changes which is sad. love those guys. 

we were informed that elder neil anderson of the 12 will be coming along with bishop davis and elder grow of the 70 at the end of august to have a mission conference wiht us! that should be aweomse!! i am super excfited. 

today we just got done having a whole zone conference as well and i got to teach for about 45 mins. turned out really well. i was sure relying on the spirit and he put the words in that needed to be said. 

i sure love hte zone here. great missionaries and sisters. we have 6 sister missionaries here and 12 other elders. so its fun. 

i hope all had a great 4th of july. we celebrated here (well just the gringos...) by making peach cobbler, browines, bought icecream and made shephards pie. JUST LIKE HOME IT WAS!!!! IT WAS AWESOME!!! GOD BLESS AMERICA. we did sing the nation anthem and i played it on the violin. how truely blessed we are to live in the US. too bad we lost in the world cup. haha i really love soccer now. the skills are improving and we sure love playing. 

but thats about it. wish i could right more but....dont got the time. 

have an awesome week!

Weston

ps. happy birthday to faith!!! jakes is just around the corner!!!

and congrats dad on the shed. send me pics! 

love you all mucho. 

--

      Elder Birtcher

Perú - Arequipa Mission

Hey Guys:

Well it was a rough week...but i am happy because i just read about all the wonderful things that are going on back home!

A HUGE congradulations to Dav and Annessa for their new baby boy....Why wasnt it named Weston??? (We will talk later :) )...Congrats to danilynn and ken for becoming abuelitos and grandma and grandpa for becoming great grandparents (dont worry you arent old).... Another HUGE congradulations to Britni for your baptism date this july!!!!!!!! i am SO excited for you both greg and britni!!! congrats to nate and megynn about their wedding!!!!!......oh wait that hasnt happened yet....next week...next week ;) and tiffany for dating my best friends brother! cool. :) and cant forget big michael and johnny for their ordinations. great stuff happening back home.

here....things are continuing to roll forward. we have found some great new investigators to teach and we had a great turn out in the reunion sacramental....7 of our investigators came! we were stoked. we have planned for this week 3 baptisms that should be great to see! they are so ready!!!!!

 i should be recieving a change this week i think. we shall see where or if it even happens. thats what i have heard from a bunch of different missionarys now.

the week was sure busy though. the days long....week went by fast. we did have a scare on wednesday when our pentionista, mama jenny, fell from the 2nd story of the house onto her head and back. she cracked open her head and blood was everywhere so we rushed her down to the hospital and we were there with her basically all day long. they did x rays and scans and everything but luckily and its a miracle that she had no brain damage and no back fractures or broken bones. she is doing mucho better....and is in the house now. but...she cant do anything. just resting. but the members have been wonderful here, stepping in and helping out. so pray for her to recover quickly.

i sure love this ward. if i leave i will be sad  but i will do what the lord wants...so we shall see.

other than that...not much to say about the week. i hope you all have a great one and are safe and happy!

con mucho amor,

Weston

--

Elder Birtcher

Perú - Arequipa Mission

Hey Guys:

Well it was a rough week...but i am happy because i just read about all the wonderful things that are going on back home!

A HUGE congradulations to Dav and Annessa for their new baby boy....Why wasnt it named Weston??? (We will talk later :) )...Congrats to danilynn and ken for becoming abuelitos and grandma and grandpa for becoming great grandparents (dont worry you arent old).... Another HUGE congradulations to Britni for your baptism date this july!!!!!!!! i am SO excited for you both greg and britni!!! congrats to nate and megynn about their wedding!!!!!......oh wait that hasnt happened yet....next week...next week ;) and tiffany for dating my best friends brother! cool. :) and cant forget big michael and johnny for their ordinations. great stuff happening back home.

here....things are continuing to roll forward. we have found some great new investigators to teach and we had a great turn out in the reunion sacramental....7 of our investigators came! we were stoked. we have planned for this week 3 baptisms that should be great to see! they are so ready!!!!!

 but i should be recieving a change this week i think. we shall see where or if it even happens. thats what i have heard from a bunch of different missionarys now.

the week was sure busy though. the days long....week went by fast. we did have a scare on wednesday when our pentionista, mama jenny, fell from the 2nd story of the house onto her head and back. she cracked open her head and blood was everywhere so we rushed her down to the hospital and we were there with her basically all day long. they did x rays and scans and everything but luckily and its a miracle that she had no brain damage and no back fractures or broken bones. she is doing mucho better....and is in the house now. but...she cant do anything. just resting. but the members have been wonderful here, stepping in and helping out. so pray for her to recover quickly.

i sure love this ward. if i leave i will be sadbut i will do what the lord wants...so we shall see.

other than that...not much to say about the week. i hope you all have a great one and are safe and happy!

con mucho amor,

Weston

--

Elder Birtcher

Perú - Arequipa Mission

hi my mommy and dad, and friends and family

1st-dad, HAPPY FATHERS DAY!!!! i wish i couldve called you to tell you that. i sure missed you and was thinking about you yesterday. thank you for all you do for me. youre example and love and all the service you give me. you are one of a kind dad. couldnt have asked for a better one. love you so much.

how are you doing? sounds like things are great....as for questions....i am doing good. i have been having comp problems a lot this last week. but i have been praying for help and patience and the lord has been helping me. this last week i have been pretty angry and unhappy lately....my comp can be a pain. but we had a good talk and things are getting way better. as for the responsiablities...they havent changed too much. just hte usual district leader stuff. and teaching every tuesday, and doing interviews and making sure everything is going well in the district. they gave me a pretty rough district cause they said i could haddle it and better the situation. and we have. the lord has certainly helped me out on that. we should have full baptisms in the district this week. i am excited about that. i do have sisters in the district but they are way new and have a lot to learn. but we are all working hard.

as for what happened this last week....nothing much. just work and work and more work. had some meetings and worked with some more investigators. we are working with 2 sisters that should be getting baptized this saturday. their names are jhoana and naomi and they have the desires to be baptized SO BAD but mom wont sign the papers. they are 16 and 12 years old. so pray for them that mom will soften her heart and let them enter into the waters. we are also working wiht a family of 5 that if they would just come to church they could be baptized here pretty soon. it will be some work to get mom and dad married but that will be so awesome if it works out that way!

some members also gave us some references of another family that they are chosen of the lord!!! named teodora and her daughter of 10, loura. i hope we have great success with them here in the next couple of weeks. and another chosen person named steven. we found him at our noche misional last saturday night...at our karaoke activity! haha that was a lot of fun and we saw a bunch of people that we havent seen in a while.

but the work continues. i love it so much. changes are in 2 weeks and there is a rumor that i might be leaving (...as a zone leader) but i dont know...i kinda doubt it. maybe in a change or 2 or 3. who knows. we just do the will of the lord and serve where we are in the positions that we have. the lord loves us and will not leave us alone and solo. he is always on our right side and left side and will go before our faces.

i got to give a talk yesterday in sacrament meeting. and i spoke about are we sleeping through the restoration (from elder uchtdorfs talk this past conference). we must do all we can for the lord. we really dont have too much time to do it. so lets get started. put your shoulder to the wheel and get pushing. he will help us push.

have a wonderful week all of you. hope you dont die of too much heat. arequipa is cold!!!

from peru to all of you,

with a lot of love,

Weston

--

Elder Birtcher

Perú - Arequipa Mission

Como le va con Ustedes?

I hope all is well.

well let me tell you about the week. B.U.S.Y.

had some training meetings with the zone leaders and planning meetings, divisions with other missionaries, teaching and training....the works. but it was a great week and i learned so much from it.

We had 2 more baptisms this last week. One which was an absolute miracle! We had a noche blanca again and have 5 baptisms. It was all planned out with the zone leaders and all the details were all planned out but things fell apart in the last few seconds....and everyone sort of turned to me so i had to take charge of the situation and run everything but it all worked out well and we had a beautiful baptism service for the lucky 5. I was able to play the violin on a special muscial number ïf you could high to kolob¨ which turned out really nice and my pianist and i got many complements from it. haha that and playing in front of the 2 stakes as put the word out to arequipa and i have recieved calls from some members asking if i can go to there baptismal services in other wards to go and play special musical numbers. so i guess i need to prepare myself.

but the noche blanca was way special. Nelly who we have been working with for so long now entered the waters (WHICH WERE FREEZING!!) and got baptized along with Wendy...another awesome girl in our ward. i know i have written some others this today but...there is no greater joy. no greater happiness. no greater peace. i love the gospel of jesus christ. all i want to do is follow him and continue on, faithful in this mission and help others find the truth. there is nothing like it. i encourage ALL to serve missions. now is the time. the lord needs us. his precious children need us. how grand is our responsiblitly and how much trust the lord has in us to cumplete his propositos and designs in this time of our lives.

so 4 down...4 to go. the goal this month is 8 baptisms. i know we can do it. the lord will help us.

elder chavez and i are working hard and we were able to find a wonderful family this last week who are so ready to hear the gospel. the mom, elizabeth has 4 kids and is so receptive. the blessings that we recieve. :)

dont have much more time to write but...let us continue on faithful. serving the lord in every way that we can. he will bless you in ways that you can not possibly imagine.

have a great week to you all.

Weston

1-4-3 para siempre

 

Dear Family/Friends:

We had 2 baptisms this last week! it was sure a spiritual experience and we could see the lord work his miracles to allow all to work out smoothly. we have been working with these kids and mom for a while now and they have progressed so much. mom knows its true but doesnt want to change (....yet) and the kids knew for sure and wanted to be baptized. dad doesnt live at home, works in lima and comes home once every month, which obviously doesnt help the family out much. (and mom and her parnter...no not married...have a ton of problems) well at first mom and dad both said no for the kids to get baptized. then mom changed but had fear of dad who still said no. but she still signed the papers. dad finds out....he is ticked and says that he is coming home from lima early to stop the baptism. i had the chance to talk with him on the phone and that was his intention. so me and my comp were praying a lot for them and the whole thing ot work out. well dad showes up unexpected....tries to convince his kids that they shouldnt be baptized...but the 9 year old boy, Dante, and the 8 year old girl, jackelyne, told him off!! We had a wonderful baptismal service for them....and guess who shows up...dad. at the end of the service, he was balling. he even got up and shared his feelings with everyone...saying that he was so happy that his kids were baptized and that they were following god. miracles no? the gospel changes people, even in front of your very eyes.

it was special.

funny story though....so i dont know what is wrong with our baptism font because i turned on the hot water for over an hour and when we got in it was freezing!!! mom told me before i had tested the water...i hope the water is warm cause, dante doesnt like cold water...haha i responded oh dont worry about that, the water is warm....i think i need to repent for lying :) but dante didnt want to get in. i had to pick him up and put him in the water. and he was so nervous...but after calming down a little bit he told me he would do it. so i said the words and put him into the ice cold water....he comes out like shivering and says im getting out!!....but....ooops...his toe had popped up out of the water, got to do it again. lets just say that was the fastest baptismal prayer you have ever heard. :) but the cool part was, the second time we didnt feel the cold. he had a great big smile on his face and was so happy.

as for the rest of the week...it went well. we have been working hard with a bunch of investigators who are ready to get baptized and we confirmed 4 dates for baptism. we have 2 planned this weekend and 2 the next. our goal for our area is 8. i know that if we are obedient and work and do all we can the lord will provide. i think it was elder ballard who said...it is impossible to fail when we do all we can in the lords work. so we are excited.

the district is doing great. of the zone, we had 5 baptisms!!! great stuff. i was sure busy this last week doing interviews and visiting with all those investigators. you can sure feel the spirit in those interviews and the lord always puts in your heart and mind the things that we must say.

last saturday was the birthday of 2 of the missionaries in our zone...and i get a call in the morning from the zone leaders...hey birtcher, can we do a fire on your roof??...haha my fires on the roof have become famous :) so the whole zone came over later that night for cake and a fire. :)

another cool story that we had this last week was i got to do divisions with the zone leaders and we went to one of their meetings with 2 investigators who dont speak a lick of spanish...just quechua, a very old native language here in peru. we had a translator (their bishop) translate everything we said to them. they will be baptized this saturday :) it doesnt matter what language, the fulness of the gospel will be spread until it has sounded in every ear and been brought unto all the nations, kindreds, and people of the world. the scriptures say that everyone will hear the gospel in their native tounge so that they can understand it and accept it. it was a really awesome experience. peruvians are so awesome. i love them so much. they are my lamanite brothers and sisters. and teaching about the book of mormon to them is just fulfilling the promises of those ancient prophets of old. i love it.

i just really want to learn quechua now :)

 

and that was the week really. the gospel is true. this is the kingdom of god on the earth. without a doubt that is my testimony. may we do all we can to expand the gospel so that all the children of god may hear of it and change their lives and find salvation unto their souls.

i love you all very much. gracias por todo que hacen para mi. dios les bendiga en todo.

con mucho amor.

Weston

1-4-3

--

Elder Birtcher

Perú - Arequipa Mission