The Oak Tree

The Oak Tree

by Johnny Ray Ryder Jr.

A might wind blew night and day.

It stole the Oak Tree's leaves away.

Then snapped its boughs

and pulled its bark

until the Oak was tired and stark.

But still the Oak Tree held its ground

while other trees fell all around.

The weary wind gave up and spoke

"How can you still be standing Oak?"

The Oak Tree said, I know that you

can break each branch of mine in two,

carry every leaf away,

shake my limbs and make me sway.

But I have roots stretched in the earth,

growing stronger since my birth.

You'll never touch them, for you see

they are the deepest part of me.

Until today, I wasn't sure

of jut how much I could endure.

But now I've found wth thanks to you,

I'm stronger than I ever knew.

Jace brought this home from his missionary prep class and wanted to share it with Jordan! Way to go Jordan, thanks for being a great example and standing like a giant oak!

See you soon…

the fisrt picture is of my zone as we did our zone activity today, the second picture is of me and my companion, and the third picture is of me and Elder Price, from Orem Utah, we did a chest bump together and accidently haed-butted eachother, my tooth caught him in the cheek, the fourth`picture is of the baptism we had the other week and the last one is of a cake from DQ ..........no this week we dont have a baptism, there is a chance but the brother doesnt feel ready, yes church is at 9 in the morning and we stay fro all three hours. yes its at teh deportiva building, in the street Avanida mexico, behind the plaza San Luis. yes on monday i think you guys can help me pack, i am only allowed to take one bag wit m,e so maybye you guys can take the other i think on tuesday or wensday we will vbe able to go to the temple, but you guys should bring your clothing ........................i feel content that i am finishing up this service that i have given to the Lord, thyere are a few things i wished i could have down better, mistakes that i comitted, but, i have grown closer to my Heavenly Father in these two years and also i have felt the loving arms of teh Savior wrapped around me forgiving me of those mistakes. people are always asking how i feel and i tell them....... clean. as missionaries our purpose is to "Invite others to come unto Christ, be helping them recieve the restored gospel, through faith in Jesus Christ and his atonement, repentence, baptism, recieving the gift of the holy ghost and enduring to the end." i had never thought that as i invited others to come unto Christ that i myself would go unto him, through my faith he has cleaned me, through my obedience ha has protected me, through my diligence he has blessed me, and through my love he has saved other children of God, so that they may also have the Life Eternal. i feel sad becuase once i am back home i will be entering a different world, just like entering into the misssion, i started climbing to the montain top and i have reached it, stumbling along the way, but with the Saviors gentle hand always there to steady me, now i have reached the top i must go dwon to the foot of the nest mountain, a bigger one, and begin the journey again, i want to thank everyone for the support that you have all given me, i know that at times i didnt show much appriciation, but all the letters, the packages the e-mails, and everysingle p`rayer that was offered for me i thank you. thank you for the love, the support and the jokes, glad to see you all soon. con todo mi amor, Elder Jordan Ross Weaver

It is amazing to me the emotions that I have, having come to the end of his two years, I sent his last email in tears this morning and I publish this one with tears also...It's truly incredible the blessings that have come from having him in the mission field! Blessings that seemed like trials have taught us so much and I know that our whole family has grown because of his opportunity to serve. I am very anxious to see him this weekend-we leave Friday and will see him for church Sunday morning, looks like we will get to help him pack and do whatever-then Tuesday he is ours :) We plan on doing whatever he wants before we fly out together on Thursday. Ross checked the weather today and it is 100 degrees there today with 84% humidity, so feels like 134 degrees-big difference from the 15 inches of snow here! I will take lots of pictures and add them to this blog-Thanks again to all of you that have written, sent packages and love and prayers, money everything you have done for him and us-we so love and appreciate you-the church is true-I can say that without a doubt! Good job Jordan-God bless!

Extension…

our baptism went fine last week, and well this was an interesting week that i had. i am really excitedt hat you guys arestill comming so that yo can sign a permission pper saying that i can stay for another 6 weeks it will be cool i talked about it with the mission president he will let me go with you guys for three days and then you guys go home and i stay for another 6 weeks. i am not sure when we will go to the temple, but it will before yo guys have to go home, and yes thewardsname is Deportiva, and its Bishop Hernandez Friday morning when we get a call from a elder in our zone, him and his copanion had been fighting and things werereally tense, they werentbeing obedient ad, so we had to get involved.i went with a elder who is from my generation, because hehad been buying and watching movies, and the younger elder who has 6 monhs i themission came with my companion. President Casteñeda new all about the problems so he old me that i was to watch this elder to see what was going on, and if he didnt shape up he would go home two weeks early. so i was with this elder and two others that had been watching movies, and as soon as i get tothier house i didnt feel the Spirit, because when a missinary is disobedient theSpirit of the Lord does not stay, and in thhis house the Spirit hadlog left to another place, so we blessed the house nd i got them intothe habit of dong mrning nd evening devotionals everyday so that the spirit fo the Lord wasstron in hat house. because the missionary shaped up he is going to stay to finish his mission, but mycompnion being a goofball and knowing that i was spying for the mission president dubbed me 00weaver like 007, but with my name. oh and about the extension i am only joking, so mom dont flip.
well thats all i have for this week love you guysElder Jordan Ross Weaver ............................So funny, yes I did flip and got all crazy, so fun living in a house of all men, even when they are not here they still have to tease! :)

BETELEHEMU

Date: Mon, Feb 7, 2011 at 4:07 PM
Subject: BETELEHEMU
To: ROSS WEAVER <roswv@msn.com>
the fisrt pisture is of me and four other elders who are from my generation, the second is of Elder Allred, and Elder Groesbeck (my companion), the third is of me and Elder Rosales and the last is of the four of at having braekfast with a sister no i didnt know the americans before i got to the house i had seen them befor, but never really talked to them, with Elder Rosales, i have known him for a long time, we do have a baptism for this Saterday his name is Frank, and he is really excited,The conference went really well with President Casteñeda, i asked him about you guys coming to get me and he told me it would be fine im sent him the plans and will have a new answer for myou guys next the house is found at col Tamulty, street nicolas bravo, , number205 , apartment 3, and we have the church services at 9 we bathe with hot water that we boil, and a brather has a washer vand he washes our clothing for us, we eat alot of pizza and icecream from DQ, but thats about it, at home we have a stove a toaster and a microwave, so we do more cooking back home then we eat in the street the title of this letter is Betelehemu because a few years ago we went on a youth activity so the confernce center to listen to MoTab, and there was a song that dad really liked i found in a a disc that my companion has so there is you song dad, well sterday night we wnet looking for a old investigator from years ago we found her and she is a really heavy smoker, i told her about Uncles Brents experience with the missionaries and the blessing they gave him, it really touched here heart and we are going back to see her soo, her name is Luara Duran, thats all i have for this week love you guys, Elder Jordan Ross Weaver

Two letters…

finish strong.... okay last week i sent you guys a letter with pictures and everything also saying that President Casteñeda is fine with the travel plans that you guys have put, i sent it and ya , i come here today having a email telling me that the one i sent last week didnt go through, so i resent that one and am sending another one, we had a baptism on saterday and Frank is really excited, and tommorow we are having a trainingship meeting with President Casteñeda, and me and my companio are going to be giving the class, i am going to ask a favor that you can put $50 in my account to finish the time that i have left in the mission, i have $30 but the banks wont trade me for them with pesos so i need your guys help. today i went to get my hair cut, and it looks pretty good, i am sorry but this computer is bad thats why i am not sending any picturesi am really excited because the zone that i am in we are all working pretty hard, and also sad because the letter i sent didnt go throu lats week so if the letter isnt that exciting, sorry . we have 3 people who can be batisezed at the moment we just need to got one married and help the other two know that the church is true, their names are Jesus, Gabriel and Guadalupe . so ya President is fine with the travel plans that you guys have and he only asks that you not distract me from the work that i have, so i will let you guys plan ot the details and see you on the 6th of March.
well i hope that this letter gets to guys along with the other that i resent so that you guys will know that i love and that i wasnt mad last week, its just the technology that dosent want to do its job. love you guys talk to you next week, Elder Jordan Ross Weaver Only the one letter came through-we just have 24 more days! Wow!

No email this week :(

Zone Leader…

the fist picture is of me with Dominoes pizza, and the next two pictures are of the kitchen we have, the last tow are of two different paper walls that we have to keep track of people that weteach and also of the poeple our zone teaches and for when they will bebaptized we are four missionaries that live in the house, and as a zone leader i have to watch over 16 missionaries, and make sure that they are beaing very obedient and working, I really get along just fine with my companion today we went to buy stuff and also we cleaned a good part of the house, okay i have a favor to ask...I am going to ask that everybody stop talking to me about time, its hard to stay focused when everyone is rushing the days when i want to slow them down. thanks. the direcion of the chapel is Street Venida Mexico, behind the plaza San Luis. i dont have the direccion of the house, and my companion at the moment does not remember it. we have avery nice area, we have DQ, Dominoes, Pizza Hut, McDonalds, and Sub Way, also we have a Walmart in the area to do our shoping. Tomorrow night we have a meeting to go to as zoneleaders with President Casteñeda, i will talk to him about your travel plans and see what he says. we are three americans in the same house and one mexican and its alot of fun having three different people to talk to. we listen to music at night and tell missionary jokes. well thats all for this week i love you guys, Elder Jordan Ross Weaver