February 27, 2014 Transfers!

Family and Friends,

Wow what a crazy week you all had. More mission calls, more crazy stories, great hunt for you guys. congrats dad and jacob! nate sorry big man...the streak has ended. (haha sorry man i couldnt talk smack with you this year!)...but yeah dont worry aobut it...you had a girl with you man. :) but sounds like you all had a great time and it sure brought back the memories of the great hunts. send some pics though, id love to see all those cool stuff.

Well, im sorry this letter is getting to you late. This week has been a crazy one so let me give you the details and the updates.

Well, we did have a transfer. I got moved from tacna to arequipa. and to be honest, that was one of the hardest things that i have ever had to do. I dont think i have ever cried so much in all my life. Those people are so special to me. my family and my best friends and it was so dificult to say goodbye. Yeah on saturday night i got the call that i was going to be changed and on sunday just a couple people knew that i was going. but bishop at the end of the meeting gets up right before the closing prayer and states....hey i forgot but elder birtcher has a change to arequipa and i invited him to come up and bear his testimony for us.... holy hard. i told them how grateful i was for all of them. how speical they all are to me and i couldnt even like talk because i was all choked up. the members were all crying and told me to come to their houses that day. well not only are changes hard emotionally...its hard on the stomach. because we ate at EVERY single house we went to. we first ate lunch at our pensions which was so filling and then these members invited us to come over for a little treat is what they said. liars...they took us to a restuarant and we had a full chicken breast with a mount of french fries and of course the inca kola soda that is so amazing! we were dying. so we go to say goodbye to one of the sweetest ladies here and like always she has something for us. litterally a half of a watermelon! ugh...sickening. once i finished she goes back into the kitchen and brings back more food. and that was just what happened in every house that we went to.

so hard to say goodbye to some of the converts and the wonderful families here. as i was packing up my things that night, 3 families came over to the house to say goodbye. and yeah....muy muy dificil. but saying goodbye to my pension and my family that i have lived with for 6 months was teh worst.

i got on a bus with a bunch of other missionaries all bound for arequipa and i was met at the bus station by my new companion elder loor, from ecuador. haha my second ecuadoriano. and things are going great here so far. we are getting along just great. already cracking the jokes and our pension is really great! the members as well. has hard as it has been for me....the lord has really helped me. i feel excitd to work in this area. and i just am so stoked to get up and work! it is the weirdest feeling but i love it. the ward here is way strong and the new zone is full of great missionaries. actually got to work with 3 of them in tacna before they left...so it was a great reunion. but i know and the lord has helped me realize that tacna was where i was supposed to be. i was supposed to be there for the members and they for me and for the investigators....but there are others here that need me. but more importantly the lord needs me here right now. i am looking forward to the wonderful times that we will have here. i had great times in tacna, and will have even better ones here. i feel such a strong love for these people already and i just know that we wiill be blessed.

it is a little interesting....arequipa is so much different than tacna. its green and we are surrounded by 3 volcanos that are really pretty. i am cold here. maybe thats just because i got accustomed to the blazing desert of tacna but i am okay. we are happy and in good spirits.

and that was the week.... i love this mission. it is the best time of my life. i love and miss you all and pray for you all daily. have a wonderful week and be safe. dios les bendiga siempre.

Weston

1-4-3

--

Elder Birtcher

Perú - Arequipa Mission

---

February17, 2014 Where did he get the camo?

 

 To all those going hunting this week. I wish you all the best. I give you the blessing

to search out and find the pigs. I am with you in spirit and am supporting you down here! Love you all and have a great time! Be safe and let me know how it goes!

He who does not get a pig....shall recieve the shame. :)

Love you all!

--

Elder Birtcher

Perú - Arequipa Mission

Dear Family and Friends:

There is a lot i could say about this week. It was certainly a week of much growth in my testimony and knowledge that the savior lives and that he loves us. and that he has a plan for us. This last week i had the oportunity to reflect on a lot of things about the family. I thought aobut you guys and how specail you all are to me. I truely thank my heavenly father that i have such a wonderful, loving family who loves me. who supports me. who will do anything for me and who is strong in the gospel. We Can Be Together Forever!!! I wouldnt have it any other way. I thought a lot about how i acted before the mission too. and i want to say that im sorry. i shouldve acted more lovingly. i should have given more hugs. i should hvae told you all more that i lvoed you. because i really do. jacob, i have thought a lot about you buddy. i should have given you more of my time. i should have played more sports with you in the front yard. i should have given you more hugs man. you too faith. kacie i should have given you more support and love. mom and dad i should have given you more service and obeyed more. nate and just, we shouldve gotten more wings together and shot more guns and gone to the lake more and......hahaha okay okay. but its true. being away from home really opens your eyes at to how important your family really is to you. I love you all. you are the world to me and are so special to me in my heart.

This last saturday our zone had a stake activity in which we decorated the church up and had the whole plan of salvation set up. the idea that we did was to have everyone go into the gym....set up like an airplane and the airplane was going to crash and then we would take everyone through to the different reinos de gloria (kingdoms of glory) and the spirit world and everything. It was pretty funny because me and my comp at first acted like the flight attendents who announce everything. everyone knows that they always announce in english and then in spanish. so naturally i had the english part and little did i know that half way through my speech i was talking in spanish again! nooo!!!! hahaha but it turned out great. the spirit was very strong and we had a great turnout. we talked about the importance of baptism and how being bapitzed is the only way we can return to live with god again. and at the end we had everyone go into the baptismal room and watch 2 baptisms that we had that night. a great way to end the whole event. But in thinking about the family and then doing this whole thing, it gave me more of an opportunity to reflect on the family. God has a plan for us! like i said before...We can be together forever. i couldnt imagine life without you all. but just because god has this wonderful plan for us....its not free and its not just given to us. the price was paid by our savior jesus christ and our responsibility is to be baptized and live the gospel daily. remember my letter a couple of weeks ago. we must do the basics everyday if we are to return and live in the presence of our god. we must do the fundamentals if we are to be able to live together for enternity. it is amazing. it is wonderful. it is specail. we have our responsiblilties to live this...but as members we have even more obligations. we must go forth and instruct those who arent living the gospel or who do not have the gospel in their lives about this plan of happiness, so that they too can return and recieve all that the father hath for them. that they to can feel of the love and peace that eternal families brings.

I love my Heavenly father and my savior jesus christ and am so deeply grateful for this plan that we have. i testify with all the power that my soul has...that it is real. it is true!! and it can be yours. it can be ours.

I have no doubt that our heavenly father wants his children to come back to him and live in happiness in families. treasure your family. give more love. give more service. give more hugs and help one another more. on the subject of family....i am really worried about this week. because i think i might be getting transfered away from my family here. i love them so much. they are apart of me and it is so hard to imagine leaving them. i just want to bring them all with me! its hard, but with lots of love can come lots of saddeness when one is to leave. i will let you all know what the results are this next week but i hope that you all continue strong and strengthen your testimonies so that you can live in the celestial kingdom with your families. it would be heart breaking if one of you werent in heaven with all of us. i love you all. i really do. take care, be safe, and have a wonderful week.

Weston

1-4-3 Always

--

Elder Birtcher

Perú - Arequipa Mission

February 10, 2014

My dear family and friends:

Dont have much time today. but let me shoot you the highlights of the week. its been a busy one with the investigators. we have been working with 2 tweleve year olds and they are ready for baptism but we need permission from their parents and they are being very stubborn and not wanting to budge. it can be so frustrating with those stinkin parents sometimes. but we are praying that the lord will soften their hearts and have their eyes opened to the truth. i know the lord can do it. remember my christmas miracle. I KNOW HE CAN DO IT! :) but just keep them in your prayers and thoughts. their names are josue and joel.

In speaking of my christmas miracle.....remember how i was able to bapitze bryan? well we have been working with his sister sandra for months now and it was evenutally time to say ¨hey you want to be baptized, yes or no?¨not in those exact words but similar :) anyways the problem has been that she has doubts about the word of wisdom because she drinks coffee to help with her studies. we have been trying and trying to help her recognize things but no luck. and then....she just dropped off the face of the earth it seemed like. we couldnt find her for a month and half!!! but we had a meeting with her and it started out way rough. ¨no i dont want ot get baptized, i am catholic and thats the way i will be.¨ it was an interesting expericence for sure, trying to feel the spirit and know exactly what to say. my comp testified of things and she basically ignored him and then i took control of the situation. ¨¨hey look inot my eyes¨and i was able to talk with her and ask her questions and i felt the spirit like none other time before in my life. You could literally take a knife and cut through it. it was like heavy and overpowering. it was the neatest feeling i have ever had. i love when i begin to talk and then my mind is full of things to say and honestly i am just opening my mouth and the words that the lord wants her to hear are just coming out of my mouth. cant really describe it in any other way. After i spoke my comp took a turn and we were both crying. gosh it was so powerful. we should have a baptism this saturday. continue to pray for her and that the lord will continue to pour out his spirit upon her.

anyways with the others....its been rough....had to drop 3 more and maybe 3 more htis week. but this is the lords work, its his will, its his children and his glory. who am i to interfere with his will. so we will continue to do our part and teach and invite all to come unto christ. i love you all so much. i hope you all have a fantastic week and are being faithful in your callings and doing the basics that we all must do.

keep the faith, fight the good fight.

i love you all.

Weston

1-4-3

--

Elder Birtcher

Perú - Arequipa Mission

 

Hey family and friends 2-3-2014

Hey family and friends!

How is everyone doing this fine day? From the letters....the missionaries are continuing to kick satans butt, more people are getting married, more missoinaries everyday, its cold up there, and you all are very busy :) sounds great. So great to hear from you all and to know that i have such wonderful people in my life.

And now for the week....

It Wass a busy one let me tell you. I dont have crazy miracle stories this week but thats alright, we dont need grand miracles to know that this is the lords church on the earth and that he lives. He works in simplicity, in ways very simple so that we can understand (each person in their own way). there are many scriptures that state...and i did delight in the clarity....or.....i tell you these things in clarity that ye cannot err. or by small and simple things, great things are brought to pass. this is a great lesson that we need to learn and apply in our lives. One that i have been taught all my life, but i guess i never realized it until now. In football, we are taught the basics. we do foot drills, condiitoning, lifiting light then heavy, we study the basics and we execute the basics out. Why? Because from the small things come the big things. or as coach used to say. big plays dont happen if we dont do the small things. so it is in the gospel. we read the scriptures, we say our prayers, we need to go to the temple, we need to have family home evening (yes all the primary answers). but why? one, to be truely converted. to gain a testimony for ourselves that this is the true church here upon the earth, that jesus the christ lives and died for us to allow all men to return and repent. We do the small things first so that the lord can work miracles through us later. I dont think peter could have walked on the water, or healed the sick or have been the man that when he walked into the street, people would lay their sick and afflicted just so the shadow of peter would pass over them....if he wasnt reading his scriptures or saying his prayers. We cannot be instruments in thte hands of the lord if we are not doing the small things daily in our lives. The lord needs everyone, missonary and member to put his shoulder to the wheel and push along. he needs us to gain our testimonies, to be converted first through prayers, fasting, diligent scripture study, attending church, the santa cena...so that one day we can bring others unto christ. My responsiblity is to bring everyone unto christ through repentance and baptism. that is your responsiblity too. As jeffery r. holland stated. we must sanctify ourselves so that one day the lord can work miracles through us. Please, i plead with you, to do the basics, do the small and simple things. they may seem dumb sometimes, i get that. i was there at one point. but it is necessary and it is what the lord wants of us. We must act now, we must observe to do it now. just as we cant change the standards of the lord or the ways of the lord, we cant wait to accomplish or do the things which he as commanded us. do it. and you will see the blessings come rolling into your life. you will see miracles. you will experience a joy that you have never felt before in your life. you will feel of your heavenly fathers love for you and you will desire to do all that you can for the lord. I know that god loves each and every one of us. all he wants is for us to return. that is it! there is nothing more to it! and how do we go home? by doing the basics. follow and study the words fo the prophets. be a missoinary. before the mission, i wasnt a missionary, i will admitt that. i should have done more. but we cant let one soul slip past us. we cant lose one soul of our heavenly fathers children, our brothers and our sisters. literally. This is my thought for you all to think about and apply. to be the sons and daughters that god wants you to be. he wants you to be the best you can so that you can bless others. I know that if you try to do the small things, you will see the big things.

I love you all. I cant bear the thought of loosing one of you and not living with you in heaven for the eternities. You are all amazing examples in my life. i thank you for your love, your support, your advice. i am who i am thanks to you all. have a wonderful week this week. remember, life may be busy and you may have no time whatsoever. but if we but god first, and do the fundamentals, he will give us the time that we need for all the other things in life.

Know that you all are sons and daughters of the most high god who loves you more than we can even comprhend. let us sanctify ourselves so that we can return one day to his presence with all our brothers and sisters.

en el nombre de jesucristo amen.

Weston

--

Elder Birtcher

Perú - Arequipa Mission