Thursday, April 18, 2013

Arrived in New York #1

Why hello my dear family!!!

Guess what!?  I'm in NEW YORK!!!!!  We woke up at 2:25 Tuesday morning to head to the airport for our early flight out east!  We had a layover in Michigan (loved being back there if only in the airport) and then continued on to New York.  We met the mission president, President Morgan and his lovely wife.  We toured the mission home, ate, shared our testimonies, and then were taken to a hotel in New Rochelle (a Marriott-- loved seeing the Book of Mormon in the drawer by my bed! ).  The next day were were bussed to the Bronx for our transfer meeting (where they assign us our companions).  

I was shocked!  The Bronx is NOT scary!  I was expecting huge, dark buildings and scary alley ways.... ya, no.  It's fine!  Haha.  We have 33 new missionaries here this transfer (ever 6 weeks we get new missionaries coming in.   Our last transfer our mission received the most missionaries in one transfer for the entire world.  Last transfer we got 40 new missionaries! Wow!)  Last October before the announcement, there were about 130 missionaries.  Now it is about 230!  How crazy!  Almost doubled the mission in just 6 months!  

Anyway, the President mentioned that one lucky sister would be going to the most coveted area of the mission... a new area to be "white washed" (started from scratch).  I had a feeling that lucky sister would be me.  The night before when I was bearing my testimony, President had looked at me with what I can only describe as pride.  An hour later, I realized the prompting I got about me being that lucky missionary was TRUE!  I am in the new South MANHATTAN area!!!!!!  How amazing!!!  So now I am in Manhattan!  Well, actually, I'm living in China town!  How crazy is that!  I've never seen so many Chinese people before in my life!  We took the subway from the Bronx to China town.  Haha... so glad the zone leaders helped us move all of our luggage through the city!  There is Chinese writing EVERYWHERE and our apartment smells like fish!  Haha!  It's fun!  We can't even go into our bathroom it's so small!  lol!  But I'm loving it!

My new companion is Sister Martin, a little Filipino girl who has been out on her mission for 10 months now.  She is 23 years old and almost completely fluent in English.  
Right now we are searching for people to teach!  Since it is a new area, we have no names, no contacts, nowhere to go.  And we can't tract in China town, so we are starting from square one.  We might have some leads from some previous missionaries, so we're working on that right now!  The people here are either way friendly, or divert their eyes.  But we're learning.  

Since we are in a new area we haven't had enough time to even go grocery shopping.  Haha-- ya we're hungry!  And not hungry for the Chinese food that surrounds us!  
This morning surprised me.  I was reading from my General Conference notes as well as my Patriarchal Blessing.  The spirit was SO strong!  We talked as a companionship and shared our feelings.  Again, the Spirit was SO strong!  I loved the feeling!  I just need to now go out and learn how to share that spirit with others!  

We are on the Subway ALL the time.  It takes forever to get anywhere, so we are crammed with plenty of people on the subway who we could share the gospel with!  Now I just have to figure out how to do so!  Anyway, I'm happy and excited to share the gospel with others!!!!  

I love knowing who I am and my purpose here!  I know that if I can help others understand that too, they will yearn to know their Savior Jesus Christ and the teachings of this gospel!  I'm stoked for what the future holds!  

I love you all!  Have an amazing day and remember that God loves you!  

Love Always,
Sister Weyandt

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