Elder Robertson the day he went home.

Herculese

Service Project.

We picked up all the trash out of a dry river.

Elder Grigg from my group.

My Comp Elder Delafrance, at conference.

We had to lift all of this trash out of the river, and it was super heavy.

Shoveling Garbage.

Me and Elder Leonardo

klk mi familia como ta to pa ya en Arizona, trankilo..... espero k si. did you understand my dominican tigeraje....haha thats how they talk here, its really como esta todo para ya haha they like cut out words to make sentences shorter haha. and trust me im really good at it. (I have no idea what any of that said). Everyone new i meet here in Santiago say i talk way good and sound Dominican, so that's a good thing. Well this week was a fun one! I find myself talking more in lessons now cause my comp does not teach alot with the lack of Spanish speaking, but its alright. Its new for me to have an American again, its been 6 months since the last one but were getting along really good and what seems to bring us together the most is....YOU GUESSED IT....quoting Brian Regen and movies, especially Jim Carry hahaha!

This week was filled with working, teaching, looking for houses, and MORE chores to do for the sister missionaries. trust me mom, i also love when guys are here to in my same city so they can come over for lunch or something and pday. but its ok and this is for Jakelle because i said it last night and i remember how she hated when i said it....I KNOW RIGHT haha. miss you Kell. We had interviews this week and i realized that i only have 1 more real one left, then my dying one about going home and life and girls and stuff....that's weird. but he straight up told me like it blew me away....Elder Westergard your going to train your last 2 transfers and be District Leader. i was like.....sweet! haha it was like weird, but sounds good, end the mission with some new blood and animo to work. i had some profound doctrinal questions for him to and we talked and read the scriptures for like 20 minutes. it was really cool and inspiring.

So i decided that i want to get back to the house like ripped and huge so i work out now when i wake up at 630. haha im seeing some big results, even though i have been doing push ups almost my whole mission, I'm not fat which is good and I'm alot stronger than when i left the house haha. I honestly concure with what Ryan said in his email for the letter about teaching people who know its true but deny it because they are lazy and don't want to keep covenants. we talked to a lady who understands everything, reads the Book of Mormon, and everything but she was like i prayed..and i said ok what happened...the Lord told me to stay in my church!!!!!! wow i was like about to frwak out on her and be like then he is a liar and he didnt tell you that.....but i kept it in my head and was like what do i say to that or do or teach....i just said ok keep reading and saying your prayers, then we ended with a prayer and left, i don't think we will go back. its a bummer i hate dropping people its the worst. but on the bright side i have my first baptism here in Santiago on Saturday! on in like all the Republican but noe in the city, haha his name is Luis and he is a really cool kid, he loves the church and even goes to our English class.

Well sounds like everything in Arizona is going good, I'm so sad about Eddie passing away and i feel bad for Grandma, tell her im sorry for her mom or dad next time you talk to her. Well sounds like dad is busy but its almost over, sorry mom what you said about dad not going to Hilton head is wrong...remember the family golf trip you guys promised me when i get home....well i haven't and i hope you remember it to haha.

Today we had our zone activity and we went to the steak (that would be Stake, can't correct that one for memories) center to play basketball and games aka risk!! love that game. but i will tell you something, my game has never been better, my shot is more money than in school, i can dribble alot better and with the left hand, I'm faster, i drive alot more and you might as well just call me the WONDER of the mission haha sorry the is like really egoistic but today like 5 Elders were like how do you do that stuff! and say like one day i will be as good as you haha. well that's my brag story for the week for you guys. (a little humble huh?)

well ok i love you guys so much, i will put some pics up for you guys on flickr, so check them out later!

Elder Jesse Westergard

First of all, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM! sounds like you are doing really good! so does that mean you will just give me your computer you had....haha sounds like the Ipad is sweet, i got really hungry when you told me you ate at The Keg, i love that place. Sounds like everything is going good there, except that earthquake! scary stuff, now you know how i feel, but the one here was worse and i was close to it. So Josh is walking again huh...great for you bro, soon enough we can go golfing or something when i get home. That's good Dad about your thumb, maybe next week you can go golfing! you need to tell me how it goes. ok I'm so bummed that I'm going to miss the Masters with Tiger woods, you guys know me and what i do when one of the 4 majors is on....NOTHING!! i just sit down stairs with coke and watch the rounds over and over haha. then cry when Tiger doesn't win, but ill be home for the next major i think, or not....

I cant believe DUKE won! that's awesome, i love Duke, Schayer was a senior this year right...good for him, i loved watching him play, hes super good. I have heard of Butler, but that's weird that they got to the championship...but came up short. Wow so Melissa moved to Chandler...that's awesome, I will have to go visit her when i get back. Landon wrote me a loooooong email! it honestly made my week. He told me whats all going down and that he misses me so much. If there is anyone i miss so much from back home its Landon, he was always there for me, he told me how in 4 months we will continue to hit up In and Out, shoot hoops out in the garage, go to QT, play video games, and all that fun stuff, hes so anxious for me to get home its so funny haha.

Well this past week was super amazing and went by very fast!! i love my companion Elder Delafrance. He is super humble and ready to work. I'm working just as hard , maybe harder here. Our area is awesome but VERY small! so its good i like it. My house is really bad haha were trying to move, there is never light and hardly ever water. Things are broken and its on the main noisy street but its whatever, we will be looking for another apartment this week. We have a ward where we are at and we share it with the sister missionaries. ok!! Dad remember when we went to Las Sendas with Uncle Richard from my last round of golf, and you told me it stinks being with sisters because they ask you for everything....ITS FINALLY HAPPENING haha. My first full day there...Elder Westergard come bless my house, second day....calls me in a lesson, we don't have any Tylenol can you go to your house and bring me one, all the farmacies are closed...day 4...can you help us with a lesson, he speaks English and is only learning Spanish! and still to go haha but they are cool so its whatever.

General Conference was so amazing!! wow i cant even tell you how much i loved it! the talks were amazing, and uplifting! and once again, he never fails...Elder Holland blew all us missionaries away!!!! i loved his talk..and when he said pornography will blow a crater in your mind forever, wow! it was so much fun being here in the city! you guys were right, after the first session on Saturday we went to the mall and ate food, i got Kentucky Fried Chicken! yes that's here in the city, its like im in a completely different mission now, i love it. Then we just hung out between sessions the whole weekend, i have alot of friends here in Santiago, on Sunday we had a member make us food, it was super good, rice and chicken and juice.

Wow this was a long letter haha well i better end and get going. i love you guys so much. mom and dad let me know if you have figured out anything on the plans to come get me ok.... have a great week and ill take pics of my comp and i and stuff and send them next week. love you all!

Elder Westergard

Wow i cant believe what happened! i got transferred to SANTIAGO!!!!!!!!! oh my gosh you have no idea how i feel. I'm so excited right now. I just had lunch at Price Mart, aka Costco, with all the Santiago missionaries. It was so awesome! my area is called Hato Mayor, my comps name is Elder Delafrance, he is American haha ya i know sweet name. He has 5 months in the mission so I'm his step dad, that's my 3rd step kid!!!! in 4 transfers. He's really awesome and from Nevada. I'm pretty sure this is my last area here, but i have so much animo to work because the city is so much different than the campos, aka my whole mission. So were going to have some great times together.

This week is Semana Santa its really dangerous starting Friday till Sunday, but the good thing is that everyone eats abichuelas con dulce! oh man its so good! but many people are talking about Christ and stuff and have a desire to talk to us, so it will be really cool.

Well on Saturday Miguelina got baptized, so that was a record breaker for me, 11 in one area. but i know numbers don't matter, but you can see the fruits of our labors. On Monday and Tuesday i had to go around saying goodbye to all my friends and families and baptisms. it was sad and i really miss Dajabon. I think it grew to my favorite area, over Puerto Plata, we will have to go visit there when you guys come. Its awesome! this morning i woke up at 5:30 and get everything ready, catch a bus at 6:30 and travel for about two and a half hours. So I'm pretty tired right now. but really I'm really sad right now. my best friend in the mission went home today, remember Elder Robertson? he was in my house in Puerto Plata and he is like Samoan. He left today and now i know like no one, I'm almost one of the oldest missionaries here and all the people i know are home. so ya its me my comp and the elders of my group pretty much.

I'm so excited for general conference on Saturday and Sunday! it will be so awesome. I'm super excited for elder hollands talk....its always powerful, well i better go, love you all!!

love elder westergard

March 17, 2010

Well to start things off, happy St. Patrick's day! if your not wearing green pinch yourselves for me because as you know its physically impossible for me to do that to you guys right now! haha well i hope you guys are having a great time and a spring break!! right now it is really crazy in the streets right now! its what they call the Carnival! look it up on the Internet, everyone dresses up in masks and costumes and its a very huge Carnival! its so awesome i was not able to see it last year, but its so cool! all the kids have whips and just whip them loud. i had a member make me one as a reminder of the Carnival, its cool and I'm learning how to whip! they call them fuertes here in the DR.

This week was very good! we baptized Pamela, the sister of Jean Carlos who we baptized like a month ago. it was very special and i had the honors of doing it, well like i always do haha. We try to get a member to do the baptisms but they all want me to do it and no one else, its like i have a special glow around me and everyone wants me to do the baptism! but that's ok with me because i love doing them, the spirit is always strong.

This week is Zone Conference and President Viñez, President of the Carribe, will be there to talk to us! I'm super excited and cant wait to here what amazing things he has to say.

I had an intercambio with a fairly new missionary on Monday, and at night we ate pizza, and i tried to do the prayer in English and.........lets just say it was sad and i started to read the scrips in English only so i can get my English back, i don't want to look like a fool on my homecoming talk.

Today the whole zone went to go climb the mountain at the beach again but me and my comp decided not to so we could rest, clean, and rest some more haha. Were working super hard so we need a break. I cant believe next Wednesday is the last regular pday until transfers on the 30th, that means only 3 left to go. Weird haha. oh i was wanting to know, how is the planning on the trip here to pick me up.....thought about it yet.

Mom the title of your email said where a green tie, i will do that but it will be for like one hour haha after pday we have a meeting then play basketball, so maybe i will use one tomorrow to, a late celebration. How is Utah, is it cold, i hate the cold! its weird i always say that but something inside me wants to go to BYU, haha but that wont ever happen, i don't think i could get in with a 3.4 average. but who knows.

Wow sounds like your getting better Josh! i really hope that you start walking soon, watch tons of March Madness for me and remember, GO TAR HEELS!! and SUN DEVILS!! Dad how is the best Bishop ever doing?....need any more advice with things or any questions...just let me know and you know I'm always here. Have you played golf lately....man you don't know how bad i miss it. I want to play with you the day after i get home on my favorite course....can you guess what it is....yes you guessed it! LAS SENDAS! we got a deal......

Well i better end! i miss you guys and hope you have a great Spring Break. i know that Jesus lives and that he is the Christ, read and pray everyday and you will be happier and have success in all you do!

love Elder Westergard

Well this week was really fun! Elder Miranda and i taught many good lessons and we found tons of new investigators! actually we received 16 references this week!! and we had a good experience to.....walking on a dirt road just after it was raining, some old guy was trying to push with one hand through the road in a wheelchair, so we pushed him to his house and taught his family, it was really amazing and it made my testimony of service increase.

So mom i feel your pain with the rain. last week the rain started when i was emailing you guys and it didn't stop until 2 days ago, i didn't see the sun for 5 straight days and it was sooooo cold! i never have been that cold on a tropical island. so ya i was like, come back sun....then it came back and i was like, go away sun!! haha so ya it was good though because today we played softball with the zone, but the cool thing is that the missionaries in Villa Vasquez live next door to a guy that plays AAA for the Diamondbacks!!! it was awesome and he played with us, almost all his hits went way over the wall. I took pics with him in his Diamondback cloths and he let me put on his under armor Diamondbacks sweater to take a picture. He speaks English so we all talked to him for awhile, it was really fun and we ended up beating his team in the extra inning with a home run, 17-16! it was a really fun day, i got a little sun though, I'm kind of red haha.

Then we all went to go buy lunch, la bandera!!! which is rice, beans and chicken. then we took a little rest and now we are here using Internet.

Wow its already spring break there.....time goes so fast. that's sweet that mom and Jakelle are going to Utah, eat some haystacks for me OK!

Well i know that this church is true with all my heart. there is no doubt in my mind! the book of Mormon is true, and Joseph Smith was the prophet and still is of the restoration of the only true gospel in the world! Jesus lives, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen!

Elder Jesse Westergard

Wow i cant believe that's it is already March! and that its March Madness again, GO NORTH CAROLINA and ASU! well the bummer of my week was just reading that Mesa High lost in the quarter finals to St. Mary's. I'm really bummed, but ill be home next year to see that good black kid again and win state.

This last week we continued to break the zone goals of lessons taught and stuff, were working super hard. Sunday was a great day, we had 5 investigators at church and my two baptisms, two 16 year olds, got the priesthood, so it was awesome to see the fruits of my labors progressing you know!

On Monday we had our district conference and it was pretty good, i was feeling kind of sick and stuff and that night i didn't sleep, so it was hard for me to pay attention, but I'm good now. yesterday we had to travel down to Navarrete for our interviews with President Lee. My interview was great simple and short haha so thats always a good sign, i think. but the bus ride always stinks, 2 hours on a bus so 4 hours all together and today is Santiago pday so we came even farther, 2 and a half hours haha so 5 hours all together, but its worth it, i saw lots of friends in the mission today and ate pizza and hung out, now were at Internet and its in Santiago so its fast haha that's what i love, i don't think i ever be in the city, i want to so bad!!!!

So me and my comp are having a great time, and last week we played basketball on Wednesday night and it was like....wow! they made a new rule that i cant be on the same team as my comp because we will always win haha. so its cool, were playing tonight after the long bus ride back.

Well it sounds like all of you are doing good! wow that's so awesome that there is a Tia Rosas now where Fazzolies was, good trade off i think. that's good that the Suns are winning now, even though they are like way behind right....

So Dad you are going to talk about the Apostasy and the Restoration tonight....my favorite things to teach haha. so ya i love teaching those 2 things. I use an example in Apostasy, i tell the people that Jesus formed his church, which i compare to a mirror, which has 4 nails in it to hold it up, prophets and apostles, authority, revelation, and scriptures. when Jesus and his apostles died there was only 1 nail left, scriptures, and the people ended up changing them so they weren't the exact truth, so that nail got taken out. and without nails the mirror will fall and shatter in many pieces. but the people wanted to know the truth but couldn't find it, Amos 8 7-11 i think, so they each took a little piece of the mirror and formed there own church without authority and the whole truth, or the whole mirror, that's why there are so many churches in this world, then in 1820 Joseph had his vision and ya you know the rest.... but people tend to understand the example really good haha. I have many others to for all topics.

Well i better go, i need to get back to Dajabon and ball it up. I love you all very much! have a great week and remember, if you want to talk to your Father in Heaven, pray! and if you want to hear his voice, read the scriptures!!

love Elder Westergard

Hey sorry family that this letter is really late getting to you and really short. We went in to the city, Santiago, today because my comp had to go see the mission doctor, so we traveled along way and just got back! this week was such a great week, and what made it better was you guys telling me that Clayton is going on his mission! you don't know how happy i was when i heard that, I'm so proud of him and what he is doing.

This last week we did alot of finding because we pretty much baptized everyone else, and these new people are going to get baptized too. We had 3 more baptisms this week! it was so awesome, and about 6 more planned this transfer. Elder Miranda is such a great elder! he has been out for 6 months today, so were working hard, yes i said I'm working hard even though i only got 5 months left......wow.

I cant even describe all the blessings I'm receiving here in the mission, working hard and being obedient has changed my life. honestly i asked a new missionary today to trade me time so i could have 2 more years here, I'm not lying haha. this place is my home.

Well it sounds like all there is trying to get better with Josh and his knee, Dads hurt calf, and Mom on the couch, sorry about all that stuff, it really stinks. Josh get better and your in my prayers, hopefully you can play ball or golf when i get home.

wow so Tiger came out in public today huh?? that's a start, i hope he comes back soon, i don't know what i would do without that man on tv to watch all the time!

Well its really late and i got to get over to the church activity and dominate basketball with my companion. I know that the church is true and Thomas s. Monson is the living prophet on the earth today. The Book of Mormon has changed my life and the way i act, let it do the same for you too! i know your receiving blessings for my service here and also family friends, the Eslers. Ilove you guys so much, remember what a smart man told me...when your on your knees, you can not fall (DAD, i love you)

Love, Elder Westergard