Transfers week!

Well, I am going to Lexington, VA! It's like right next to Buena Vista, and I'll be working in a good sized family ward, and with a lot of the students in the Summer when the student wards consolidate. I'll also be training. I'm incredibly excited because the Zone Leader area in Lexington is being split up as well, and my new companion and I will be doubled into the area. The church has also set up a singles stake there, the first out side of Utah. We're going to be working a lot with the new stake president specifically.

I am kind of sad to be leaving Clarksburg, and my calling as a Zone Leader. I'm trying to get used to the fact that I wont be seeing a good chunk of all the missionaries that I know until after the mission sometime. That part really stinks, and also I ally enjoy teaching the missionaries, but alas, these things do come to an end, and others must come in and continue to build up the mission. I'm just getting to old for this! Haha

I found a really awesome guy here last week. His name is Eric Liller, and he has got to be the most prepared man I've ever met. He enjoys reading the Book of Mormon, and will tell us all about what he's read in great detail. We gave him a quick church tour shortly before church started on sunday(oh yea, and he came to church!) and he pointed out the painting of Joseph Smith getting the priesthood. He explained it to us! He even used the word Melchezidic! I know the name is in the Bible, but people hardly know how to say it, IF they know what it is or where it is in the Bible. We're really excited for him. We also found a spanish family, so we're gearing ourselves up for that. We need some spanish supplies first. Haha

A member gave us a whole bunch of animal pelts. I took the Raccoon one. It's pretty sweet. Elder Kelsch took a fox pelt.

Pictures:

One of Us figuring out how to change the tire. They keep popping on us! Where ever I go! Also One of Elder Kelsch and I with an investigator's daughter and her friends. The daughter is on the right side of the picture. For some reason, the boy was in a dress. It was possibly the funniest thing I've ever seen. Another one of us with our guts. I need to start doing more sit ups in the morning, and a little less Taco Bell. OH! We went fishing last pday! And I caught the first fish and thats my trophy! Haha My companion says that I totally look like someone from Oregon. Maybe its the sweet Oregon shirt that I got on :D

Love yall!

~Elder Shain Wiederholt

888 Oakwood Rd Ste 310

Charleston, WV 25314

quite exhausted

Well things are good. We went fishing this morning with a member, and I caught the first few fish, but didn't catch anything else except weeds and sticks for the rest of the day, which was kinda frustrating. I should be content, but of course its something I'm constantly working on it seems.

Easter was good. We all woke up and listened to a compilation of testimonies of the prophets regarding Christ, then watched Lamb of God, one of the churches DVDs that they've made. We of course then went to church, and we were essentially the sacrament program. Haha. I was leading the music, and I don't know why but oh well, and said the closing prayer, and the bishopric member who was conducting surprised all four of us by announcing that we were going to be singing a hymn. SURPRISE!
Elder Kelsch and I later on taught the 9, 10, and 11 year old class in primary. I've never had this happen before, so it was interesting. After church we went to dinner with a family called the Stewarts. Bro Stewart is the one who took us out fishing today. We had some awesome pulled pork burritos and then did an egg toss thing. It ended up just being an egg fight with boiled eggs. Well, more like a contest to see who could hit me with the eggs. Hahaha I didn't get hit so that's good. We finished the night with some good ol fashioned teaching.

Not a whole lot more to report. My mission President is likely going to be sending me and a new missionary to Russell to build up the area. Next transfer in May one of the assistants will go to Ashland and train as well. Not sure thats the plan, but he and I talked about it in interviews a week ago and we already know I'm leaving here. Haha, we'll see, and I really hope so!

Well, sure do love ya!

~Elder Wiederholt

888 Oakwood Rd Ste 310

Charleston, WV 25314

I wont see it until I believe it

I wont see it until I believe it. I have got to say that one of the things that I'm learning about everyday is alway faith. What it is, how it works, where it begins and ends, what the difference is between faith and hope. These are all things that I've been pondering about and learning more and more about so that I can be more effective as a missionary and servent of God. General Conference this last weekend really helped me a ton. We're encouraged to go in with a couple different questions that we need answered. Those can be doctrinal, about life, direction, whatever we need to become better people. Well I went in with 5 questions, and each of them were answered two-fold. It is pretty awesome. The talks by Elder Packer, Holland, and a few others all hit home pretty well. There was one talk, the third one on saturday morning, that was about the Doctrine of Christ and the difference between being active in the church but not in the gospel. There was another one about writing missionaries, I especially loved that one! ;D

Things here are going well. The ward that I'm serving in participated in a multi-church basketball league to help create unity with the churches in the area. I won the championship, 5-0. It was a ton of fun, and we got to know a ton of awesome guys. We might start teaching one or two of the non-member guys that were on our team. All three of us also made brackets for MArch Madness for the fun of it. I didnt know what I was doing, so it was quite butchered. Haha

Its weird to think that we already have two weeks left in the transfer. It'll be here before I know it. I have no idea what might happen, so I guess all is in the Lord's hands now.

Love ya'll! Have a wonderful Easter!

~Elder Shain C Wiederholt

790 Locust Ave

Clarksburg, WV 26301

Mission Office:

888 Oakwood Rd Ste 310

Charleston, WV 25314

[No Subject]

Well our many duties of Zone Leaders are beginning to catch up with us once again. We're going on a couple exchanges every week, especially with missionaries that are having a tough time. We're also driving down to Charleston tomorrow for Zone Leader council. As much as I like Charleston, Zone Leader Council can be a little long at times. That's alright though, it's really not too bad.

The area up here is way sweet. The people are completely different from when I was in Charleston, and it's definitely more of what people think of when they think of West Virginia. There's a lot of people up here that are unfortunately hooked on drugs, and its tough to watch because there's not a whole lot we can do for them. There's a lot of cool people though, hooked or not.

The ward is especially cool. We were asked to sing a special musical number on Easter yesterday. The other three aren't very excited at all about it, but I dont mind it. I think it'll be pretty fun, especially since I haven't been in choir or anything like that since I was home.

For the pictures I'm sending, we went to Fairmont, WV for a district meeting, and afterwards went to lunch at a members restaurant. Three of us got these HUGE Gondolas. It was absolutely delicious. Hmmmm. Theres another picture of us just in the car. I'm definitely watching the road by the way. A sign the Elder Kelsch and I found on the way to Kingwood that said "If you read, Then you Know." It was way sweet. We also found a church that says "God loves you" on the top. The last picture is my study desk. It's kinda messy right now, and I dont know where the hat came from, it was there after I got back from an exchange in Fairmont. Haha.

Love yall

~Elder Shain C Wiederholt

790 Locust Ave

Clarksburg WV 26301

888 Oakwood Rd Ste 310

Charleston WV 25314

tearin it up in C-burg!

Things here are going alright. Elder Kelsch and I are hard at work trying to help the ward in whatever ways that we can. We've been finding a ton of awesome people that are truly prepared for this gospel. The only thing that could be better is that if the weather wouldn't be so hot for this time of the year. Unfortunately, it's gonna get hotter, and since the winter wasnt cold at all theres going to be a TON of bugs this summer. Not too stoked for that. Other than that, no complaints really, which is always good!

Elder Kelsch and I had a pretty awesome comp study this morning, just talking about different doctrines that we really like. Something that I had read in my studies of the Book of Mormon today was 3 Nephi 12:4 which is talking about how we all have troubled, and we will be comforted. What I like about it is that in the verse before it, Christ comands us to com eunto his and repent and the usual. Anyway, verse 3 is all about doing something to get something, which is great. But verse for really shows God's mercy by comforting us whether we believe that he exists or not, comforting us in times of trial and trouble even if we dont believe he is. It's really neat seeing that play in my life and in the lives of others that I talk too because everyone does have their trials, and things always get better. Right? There's nothing thrown in our way that we can't handle, and if we weren't meant to handle it, it would kill us, but only physically. Gah!! It's sweet. I gotta say that since I came out, I have totally come to love scripture. It's sa-weet!

Everyone that knows me well knows that I like to be different, and something that really means a lot to the missionaries in our mission is our ties. I have no idea if its that way in other missins, I'm sure it is, but all I know is that it matters here. Anyway, something that I'm deciding to do as a personal sacrfice of sorts is I'm gonna send home 90% of my ties here shortly and wear only ties that are left behind in apartments. Theyre not usuallys the most attractive tie, but I for some reason think thats what'll make it so much fun! Being the one guy that will actaully wear that tie thats been in Goodwill since the 70's. Sounds good to me!

Well, that's pretty much everything exciting for me today. Love ya'll!

~Elder Shain C Wiederholt

790 Locust Ave

clarksburg, WV 26301

or

888 Oakwood Rd Ste 310

Charleston, WV 25314

I'm alive!

Sorry I couldn't get a chance to email last week! It was transfers and it was super nuts! I did get transferred, and so I up in Clarksburg, WV now with the missionary who greenie-broke me in Russell, Elder Adam Stanley Kelsch. We're having a ton of fun. I'm also living with the missionary that Elder Dumke trained 6 months ago named Elder Maxwell. He's a proffesional Hockey player from Alberta. He lives like 20 minutes from the montana border! The other missionary is Elder Hill. Such a sweet kid, really trying to turn his mission around. He's soo cool! Loves hugs almost as much as I do. I really do miss Charleston though, I got so close to so many of the families there. I guess thats why I would've needed to leave, because that's just what the mission is about.

Things are going really well up here. Ward is really close to the missionaries up here, and so that's cool to have that relationship. We're going to participate in a chili cook-off in a couple weeks before the priesthood session of General Conference, and I'm bringing some awesome chili that I learned how to make in Kingwood. It's gonna be great. The recipe is:

1 can of kidney beans

1 can of black beans

1 can of chili beans

1 can of pork and beans

a pound of hamburger

tomato sauce

Mild Salsa

onion(opt)

Cayanne pepper(ground or chopped, opt)

brown the hamburger, and put it in a crockpot with everything else, then let it simmer for an hour or two, stirring occasionally.

We're making it today with the spicy stuff. I was testing the heat coming off of it to see if it warmed up at all before we came here, and it wasn't hot at all, so I washed my hands and we left. I rubbed my nose, and its ON FIRE. I can't wait, its gonna be so good! Haha I'm once again the only missionary in the place that knows how to cook a lot, and likes to cook. Everyone else likes to eat though, so we have a deal that if they buy most of the stuff, I'll cook it. It's a good deal. Especially since we get fed a lot, it gives us that extra money we save from dinners to be able to actually make breakfast and lunch. :D

Things here are rocking. We have some people really working hard for baptism. One guy is down in Phillipi(Phillip-ee). The senior couple down there dont like to teach, so we picked up the investigator that was progressing from when there was Elders there. Also a mom and a daughter that we found my first day here. Also! Kim Morris, who my companion and I baptized in Kingwood a year ago, is living here, and her parents were just baptized a little over a week ago! Rockin!

Well, thats about all that is really going on right now. It's pretty sweet. Love ya!

Love,

Elder Shain C Wiederholt

790 Locust Ave

Clarksburg, WV 26301

or

888 Oakwood Rd Ste 310

Charleston, Wv 25314

beautiful weather!

We're having such a great week! We've been working hard and it feels like there was nothing easy about this week, but all in all we had the most time to teach and the most people that we've invited to church actually come than at any time on my mission. Things are going well with each of the people we're meeting with; Luke, Pam and Vince especially. West Virginia is really growing on me more and more everyday, especially as the weather gets nice again, and as we continue to work hard and have fun. I really love my companion because of how fun he is, but he's also just so incredibly sincere about the work and always striving to do the best he can. I really hope that I don't ever hold him back, but that we have a good time together and make this experiance in Charleston the best one yet on our missions.

There's a family, the Minnich family that is really trying hard to come back to church so that their daughter can be baptized. Bro Minnich actually served in Helena, MT back in 2001! We instantly clicked when he found out that I'm originally from Townsend! They're such a cool family though. The baptism is set for June 17th because the family needs to be active for 4 months before she can be baptized so its more likely that they'll stay active afterwards. Hopefully it goes through! Even if I'm not here for it!

We're going to be finding out if I'm moving or not probably tomorrow. If not tomorrow than friday night, and so next week I'll be emailing on Tuesday. Love ya'll!

Just sending a picture from a couple months ago from when we played Rugby. It was waaay fun! Touch rugby of course, even if I'm all muddy!

~Elder Shain C Wiederholt

888 Oakwood Dr Ste 310

Charleston, WV 25310