Hello,

just like the title reads....it was a very tiring week...and we are only in for another one this week. 

Last monday and tuesday we had a District Leaders conference here in Arequipa, acutally the 1st one that we have ever done here in the mission, and it went AWESOME! we are really trying to focus on them, and help all the leaders excite and pump up their elders and sisters so that we can all have more success here int eh mission. The mission is improving and we are very happy to see our numbers going up and the excitement of the missionaries as well. President and us are planning many activities and things to do so that the mission will continue to improve and reach new heights. 

After our DL training meeting, Cornejo and i headed straight down to my old zone in MOQ for some divisiones with the elderes and see how the zone is doing. We have been doing really great on visiting zones and doing the divisiones so far....so we continued with those this last week. 

and moquegua is doing great. We spent tuesday afternoon and night working with the ZLs and stayed at my old house. However, turned out to be a HORRIBLE night because they had not prepared and didint have any matresses for either of us. so we spent the night on the hard floor....which hurt both our backs and didnt get ANY sleep at all. On Wednesday we did some more divisiones with other elders in the zone and it was fun to help the newbies and get them more stoked to work in their areas and to complete their numbers each and every week. 

Haha wednesday night we couldnt sleep on the ground anymore so we found a little peruvian motel type thing and rented out a room for the night. so much better than killing my back again and being exhausted all day the next day. 

Early thursday morning we headed down even farther to the zone on the ocean front, ilo. where we had a meeting with the zone and trained them a bit and did divisiones all day and into the night with them. then we slept at the zls house for that night.

friday morning was spent in the bus returning to arequipa 4-5hrs. in bus-not very fun. and once we got into the terminal, we went straight to work...and headed over to the mission home for a lunch and conference with all the new missionaries that had arrived this last change and who are just serving here in the city of Arequipa. had great hamburgers and other food...and the conference went well...but we were so tired. then yesterday afternoon was spent with president in the office planning and getting other mission details resolved and taken care of. 

so, in total....i had 1 hr. to work in my own area ALL week long. and that was spent visiting a new convert who is so great! her testimony is growing and she is so faithful and strong. she just recieved her very 1st calling as the primary secretary...and she is excited to serve in that position. 

So crazy week right.....

now we got our little break today for pday...and we will be starting it all up again. 

Tomorrow after church, we head to the Arequipa Airport for our flight down to Tacna. Tomorrow night, i will be performing in the recital musical that they will be having. and monday through wednesday will be divisiones with the 3 zones that are located down there. tuesday will be my companion´s birthday!!! and wednesday night we will be returning back here to Arequipa with presdient and his wife who will also head down there with us. then thursday is THANKSGIVING!!!! president is trying to hook up a turkey bowl with the offcie in the morning and then we have divisions on friday. then i will be talking to you again on saturday.

From what mom´s letter says: you guys are doing great and are having fun. be safe and continue to let me know on what is happening there in the good ole state of AZ. 

love you guys so much. i really do.

Weston

1-4-3 always

 

 Elder Birtcher

 Asistente 

 Misión Perú-Arequipa

Mis Queridos,

Finally have a moment to breath i should say. i dont even know where this week went to, it went by so fast. and i can believe we are already half way through november. 

well for your update on this last week. On monday Presidente Zobrist left for Colombia for a mission presidents seminar with all the other presidents in the area and Elder Cornejo and i were put in charge of the mission. So we were Presidente Cornejo and Presidente Birtcher till yesterday afternoon when president rolled in. :) but during the week we were sure busy with divisions. Like i said in my last letter it should take us about 2 months to do divisions with the whole mission...but we have it all planned out to do it in a month. its going to be busy busy busy until Feburary due to all the visits we will be doing, getting the new elders and sending the ending ones off and training the zone leaders, hermana leaders, district leaders this monday and tuesday, christmas visits with president, and then interviews all january is the plan. 

We were in a city outside of Arequipa (about 2 hrs.), called Mollendo, last tuesday. I were able to train the zone a little bit and help them out. a couple of problems are happening out there and we went to solve them and get them to be an effective zone once again. On Thursday we also got to visit a zone (my old old one in Manuel Prado) and teach them and interview the missionaries and see how they are doing. I then got to do divisions in my old area of 15 de Agosto once again. IT WAS FANTASTIC! i got to see so many of my converts and i got to visit some of the new investigators that are there as well as visit my pention and other families. You should have seen their faces when they saw me. I really love those people i got to teach. i really do. so wonderful to see them again and to see how they are doing. and great news from back there: so my one convert, Nelly, told me she has completely read the book of mormon and is reading it again for 2nd time. my other convert, edwin, baptized his younger brother this last month and is preparing to put in his papers for his mission. My family that we helped baptize is active and doing great in the church. my other converts, yandy and wendy are faithful ward missionaries and always are giving references and doing their visits...and they both have been to the temple in lima and did baptisms for the dead. and my other one freddy, is now the 2nd counselor in the elders quorum presidency (he also went to the temple!!). I couldnt be more happy. My joy is full :)

love them so much. and i love being able to go and visit them once more in my mission. other news happening. we have a district leadership training meeting this monday and tuesday which should be interesting...and immeditaley after that training conference, my comp and i will be heading down to my old zone of MOQUEGUA to do divisions and interviews and then on thursday and friday we will be in ilo doing the same thing. and then on next sunday we will be heading down to Tacna for another recital muscial and then to do divisions with the 3 zones down there Monday through Wednesday and maybe Thursday...depending if we get on a plane or not. haha craziness i know. but i couldnt be more happy. the office elders are great and i love living with them and being able to work all together. The wards are great and we are trying to work all the time with the members when we are actually able to work in the area. but...all is well. 

 

keep up what you are doing, be safe and know that i love you all.

1-4-3 para siempre

Weston

 

 Elder Birtcher

 Asistente 

 Misión Perú-Arequipa

Hey Guys, Well I am now serving in Arequipa.... haha apparently the mission needed a new assistent. so im the one chosen to fill in that gap. :)  its kinda crazy. i guess i really dont know what to think of it yet. but we are hitting the ground at a full sprint. so i got here today about 2 hrs. ago and we have a training meeting for all the new trainers this change in about 2 hours. tomorrow we have the newbies coming in from the ccm and will be going to pick them up and then train them all up on how the mission is and what they need to do and what to expect. then on wednesday and thursday we have all the zone leaders and sister leaders coming into arequipa for a training meeting. we are booked! some welcome hu? So just to give you some of the updates on how my schedule will be changing.... pdays will now be on saturdays. so dont expect my letters anymore on mondays.  My new companion is one of my best friends in the mission: Elder Cornejo from chile. we have always been really great buds and we are so excited to work together. He was actually comps with my former comp elder priebe who just went home and was also comps with elder chipman who i just sent home. haha its funny: inbetween the 4 of us (Chipman, Priebe, Cornjeo, and Me) we have ALL been companions at one time or the other in the mission. so i am really excited to get going. nervous as well...i sure will be on my knees praying hard for the lords help in everything.  but some of the past weeks updates just to fill you in quickly and i will try and touch up more on it saturday: but chipman left :( so i was in divisions all week long with other companionships of elders. it turned out really great but also very very tiring. not to mention the weekend. so chip had left but then came back to help out with the rectial musical that we did in tacna this last weekend (well actually yesterday). we were so busy running down to tacna and practicing and returning sunday and really really tiring. when we were trying to come back to moquegua sunday night we got the terminal at 9:15pm and the last bus that left from MOQ was at 8:45pm and we were stuck! we couldnt find any rides and we ended up walking down many dark alley ways and markets trying to find anything to return because we still had to pack everything up and get our room ready for the 2 new zone leaders and also get us all ready to go to arequipa. Elder chipman just met up with his parents about an hour ago and now im getting to work. but crazy crazy trying week we had and will be having from today on. we also had a little halloween party which i will send pics later and for the day of the dead on saturday we went to the cemetery and passed out tons of plan of salvacion flyers and also shined shoes for free for a couple of hours. really had fun with that as well.  All in all....i am sad that i left moquegua. i had the best zone in the mission, some of my best buds. the ward was sure sad to see both chipman and i leave but we had a good farewell. sad to see chipman and all ton of my friends who just left..but we are in for some great times ahead. i look forward to learning all i can from president and help the mission out with what i can and what the lord wants me to do here in his vineyard of Peru Arequipa.  I love you all and will talk to you all some more on Saturday.  Con todo el amor que tengo.  Weston        Elder Birtcher Perú - Arequipa Mission

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Hi!

 As for the favorite violin piece....i have been loving the arraigement of if you could high to kolob. i have both the piano and violin arrangement. i will actually be playing that this weekend in tacna for another rectial musical that we have put together down there with the help of the missionaries down there. Its a bigger stake down there thatn the one we have here in moquegua...and they are recieving professional help from a guy in lima with all the sound equipment stuff....and we are plannning for an attendance of 800 people. they have it all set up so when chipman and i play if you could high to kolob they will be showing pictures of cosmos and planets behind us! gonna be awesome!!! :)

so that is this sunday! 

What else happened down here. We did have our stake conference in which elder uceda of the 70 and the president of the area of northwestern south amercia came to preside and speak to us. i got to again play the violin for that and we had a great time of instruction and learning from him on how we can help out moquegua. President also came down again and we had a great time discussing the topics and how we can hlep the mission out on these matters as well. 

Other excited news for this week: well not really exciting (kinda sad actually) chipman goes home. yep, the man completes his mission. how crazy. its been a great time with him. we have done a lot togehter and have seen many many changes in our area and in our ward. he leaves wednesday morning for arequipa...so i will be riding solo with a temporal or other misionarys for the time being. i am kinda nervous who will be my new companion or if i will be gettting changed out of the area where will i go. all big stuff but, i shouldnt worry. im in the hands of the lord. 

we are never alone. god lives. he truely does. i have never seen him but i know that even though we are but small creations in his infinte universe...our prayers, however small reach that eternal being, whose love for us we cannot even begin to comprender, and he hears us. he knows our needs and he knows what we are going through. remember that the savior is always by your side. though we make mistakes....the savior WANTS to forgive. we can always turn to him. 

we should always strive to make our prayers better and really talk with the lord and then LISTEN! we talked a lot about that this last conference for the stake. 

3 things we can do to help our families.

1-pray. talk with the supreme creator of the universe. dont just say things that you dont mean. 

2-study not just read the scriptures. we must STUDY them.

3-always always alwyas have our family home evenings!!!! 

if we do those things we will always ahve a strong familiy. that is all i desire. really. please do that. my prayers are always with you all. i love you. 

continue on strong. fight the good fight. keep the faith and we will have eternal life. Together as a family.

i will see you next week!!

Chau!!

Weston

       Elder Birtcher

Perú - Arequipa Mission

Muy Buenos Dias,

Questions on the video....yes there are many. :) haha but i loved it!!! Some of my buds here sitting by me were laughing really really hard :)

Well what to tell you guys. 

We did our second recital muscial again...this time in ilo! We had a great time again! not as many people showed up as the last time but it was the same spirit that was felt. and it was the same wonderful feeling afterwards. my comp is the BEST EVER (he just wrote that on my screen). anyways....  saturday was sure busy for us because we had to go down to tacna and get them ready for their rectial musical the 2nd of november and then we had to travel up the ocean scenic route up to ilo where we had that other performance. i got to play again another violin solo and it was so cool the feeling that i got as elder chipman and i played. this weekend is stake conference and elder uceda of the 70 will be coming to preside over the meeting: and elder chipman and i will be playing along with a chior that we put together of members of the stake. so we are excited for that. 

We also had a baptism this last week! his name is diego and we have been working with him for a couple of months now. his dad is a less active along iwth his 2 siblings and we were able to get their whole family in the church and we rescued his older bro as well. its still dificult to work with his parents becasue they dont want to really come and do that which the lord wants. but with prayer and faith we can do it! 

This change is sure flying by. chipman is going home in 2 weeks...but we are not trunky! we are continuing to find a bunch of people to teach. this last week has actually been really really cool watching all the miracles happen right before our faces. because we for the first time in months we recieved some references and the ward has really been helping us out now. there is an excitement now and we are all on fire to work and find more people. a lot of less actives showed up to church and we were sure excited as well. 

we are working with a sweet lady named modesta who is so close to baptism. i ask for your prayers on her behalf to help her understand the importance and finally take the step in to the waters. 

i have been filled with love. love for the work, love for the people here, love for all of you back home, and love for the lord. i have been trying to renew my testimony and my studies have improved. i encourage you all to renew your testimonies. though we may know and it may seem silly to ask the lord once more if these things are true....i know that if we do, we can develope a testimony even more powerful in these the latterdays and satan will have no power over our hearts. we will abstain sin and want to do that which the lord desires of us. we will become better sons and daughters of the almighty and we will be instruments in the hands of the lord for the salvation of many more souls who are lost. as elder holland has said. santify yourselfs. and watch the miracles from heaven appear before your eyes. 

may we always do what is right. when people are watching and when they arent.

i love you all so much. 

cuídense bastante.

Elder Birtcher

1-4-3

       Elder Birtcher

Perú - Arequipa Mission

PICTURES!!! 

 

 

October 5, 2014

 

 

Coming to you live from Moquegua...

ITS THE ELDER BIRTCHER REALITY MISSION SHOW!!!!!

Welcome to all of you on the update of this last weeks events.

Well...i am finally here in moquegua again:) haha we sure have been traveling a lot lately. last saturday we went to Tacna (where i started the mission!!!) to help prepare the 3 zones there for their rectial musical that they are doing the 2nd of november and the 25 and the 30th i think...(one for each of the stakes there). we (elder chipman and i) will be playing with them for sure on the 2nd...the others not sure yet, there will be changes that same day. so who knows?? i sure hope i get to play for my old stake on the 30th of nov. and get to see everyone again. i miss them a bunch. 

along the same lines of the recital musciales that we have been doing. the one we did here in moquegua turned out great and we will now be traveling over to ilo the 18th of october to do the same thing over there!! So we got to start really getting prepared for this next saturday. should be great!

Then this last monday and tuesday we have been in arequipa for zone leader meetings with president. i enjoy the cousel that we had and we are really starting to focus our time on the reciente converts to the church. the area is really hitting us hard on the retention and we have created many many things that we are going to start doing here in the mission that will help us do that. we sure had fun taking some pictures afterwards with all my buds and with president. a lot of my friends are leaving this change. so so so sad. really really gonna miss them. especially my comp. we are getting along just great and are really trying to do what the lord wants us to do.  

our investigators are doing well. still need to progress a bunch to gain their own testimonies so that they can gain their own conversions. i have come to realize the importance of true conversion, not just baptisms. the lord does not want baptisms. he doesnt want more people in his church for numbers. he wants his children to be converted so that nothing will shake them. that they will be baptized and STAY active all the way home to the celestial kingdom. not to have us just baptize a bunch and have them linger and fall by the way side. we must see a change of heart in them before they can enter into the waters of baptism. and that we are trying to do. our teaching pool has been a little on the shy side...but i was able to do divisions with one of our district leaders this last week and we went contacting in the outskirts of our area and found some potential investigators that have invited us to come back and teach them and their families. i hope the lord will bless us and help us teach more of his kids. 

this week we were invited to go to a stake presidency lunch with all 20 of us elders and hermanas and really enjoyed that activity. our relationship with the stake presidency in the past here in moquegua has been absoluetly horrible. but ever since priebe, chipman, and i have gotten here we have turned that right around so it has been great to work with them and help the work move along. i was talking with some of the newbies as well this last week about a bunch of different things and really helped me realize all the many many miracles that i have seen here. the mission is wonderful. its the best. wouldnt have it any other way. i have grow to know my savior. he lives. and i am still growing. i still sure have a long way to go. but its a happy road to take. and i lvoe it. 

i hope you enjoyed all the pics. know that i really do love you all and pray for you each and every day. 

if you are ever feeling down or low. cheer up for there is one, a peruvian, who loves you. (i know that didnt rhym...but thats okay :) ) 

we get to watch conference this saturday and sunday! so i am sure excited ofr that!!

give my love to todos. 

Thank you for tuning in to fun times with the birtch. 

till next time from peru.

Weston 

--

      Elder Birtcher

Perú - Arequipa Mission