Week #22 In New York....23 weeks in... but who's counting? :D

It has been another wonderful week, though chilly! On Thursday night we were coming home from a lesson with Chris Jim.  As we were about to exit the subway, we saw a huge group of people crowded around the stairs.  We realized it must be raining, and these pansies didn't bring their umbrellas.  Ha, so we walked on by thinking we were all that and a bag of chips for bringing my umbrella.  We were 1/2 way up the stairs when we realized there was practically a hurricane going on outside... but, we had to get home.  So, WE RAN!!!!  Two sister missionaries booking it home in Chinatown torrential downpour in skirts.  Pretty picture, isn't it?  Haha!  We were giggling the whole way home!  Our bodies were SOAKED within 5 seconds of being out in the rain, UNDER an umbrella!  The road we needed to cross was a RIVER!  We had to jump through the SHALLOW parts of the street to get onto the sidewalk... my ankles were covered in 5" of SHALLOW rainwater!  Hahaha!  We stopped midway home under the Manhattan Bridge to take some memorable pictures!  WE LOVED IT! Haha!

Our recent convert was given the priesthood last Sunday!  We are so excited for him to be able to progress and go to the temple soon!  He is AMAZING!  So solid in the gospel!  He considers the ward members his brothers and sisters!  He told us he wants to share this gospel with EVERYONE.  So, we gave him some temple pass along cards with the questions on the back regarding the purposes of life.  When he saw them, he eagerly grabbed for them like they were a precious gift.  We were in the elevator with him and a person who lives in his apartment complex.  We started talking with the man, and Jobie gave him a pass along card and told him to read it and let him know if he had any questions!  We were blown away!  He is SO brave! 

We have had a wonderful week also with two of our investigators, KJ and Aimee.  They are friends and learning the gospel together at the same time!  They are WONDERFUL!  Both of them, separately, decided to live the word of wisdom a bit more without being taught about it yet.  They individually picked up that we don't smoke, drink coffee or beer, etc, so they have decided to start to wean away from it.  What a WONDERFUL thing to hear when we had our lesson on the Word of Wisdom last night!  They are so ready!  Both have a lot of friends and family raising concerns right and left, but they are pretty solid!  How amazing! 

We got to attend two other baptisms this week with our investigators!  Rob Iraheta is very interested in the church, but has a smoking and coffee addiction.  At the baptism we committed him to try one full day smoking free.  So, he did.  And he did day #2 as well!  He slipped up, so as of today he is on his day #2 again!  How cool!  The other baptism we went to was a baptism for a deaf person in the ASL branch!  SOOO cool!  I was wondering how they would baptize and confirm when they have to sign the prayer.  So, the man baptizing lifts his arm to the square, then brings his hand down to sign the prayer, lifts his right arm again after he ends the prayer, then baptizes the person.  When it came time for the confirmation, I got to see all of my ASL friends (Elders Malm, Sims, Davenport, Fotheringham, Cowley, and Decrecenzo) stand in the circle with their hands on Byron's head to confirm him.  Elder Marshall signed the prayer.  So, again, they started by having their hands on Byron's head, then Elder Marshall took his hands off his head, signed the prayer as he closed his eyes, and when he was done with the prayer, laid his hands back on his head to close the prayer.  It was so crazy to see all the men in the circle looking at Elder Marshall during the prayer... and to be able to open my eyes during the prayer myself to see him give the confirmation blessing/prayer!  Way cool experience!  P.S.  I'm learning a LITTLE bit of ASL from them.  The deaf community is awesome! 

So many tender mercies, blessings, and wonderful experiences!  I am so happy- so, so happy!  Sister King is amazing, as always!  We have a great time together and we learn a lot from each other.  She is going to be a rock star missionary... because she already is fabulous!  This week she SHOCKED me!  We were on the subway talking to a less active member when she turned to me abruptl y and said, "Is that girl over there the girl who was standing by us in the last subway car?"  Yep, it was.  "Should I go over there and give her a pass along card?"  Umm... YES!  So, with nervousness in her steps, she walked down the train car and approached this girl.  She briefly talked with her, gave her the card, and proudly came back.  To my dismay, the girl she had given the card to approached us just a few seconds later and started asking us about the gospel!  WHAT?!  That is amazing!  There is no immediate happily ever after end to the story here, but a seed was planted!  How cool is Sister King for following that prompting!  She is GREAT!  Her Portuguese is coming along too!  She can read her Book of Mormon to me in Portuguese, and translate it for me into English while I read in English to make sure she is doing it correctly.  She is hitting it almost spot on every time!  It is amazing!  I can't speak enough good about my dear Sister King!

Love Always,

Sister Weyandt

#1- Twin Tower remembrance lights on Wednesday, September 11th... amazing! 

#2- "Rain, rain come our way..." WE LOVED the downpour!  We ran so fast in that rain! Lol! (September 12th)

#3- Sometimes we match... like this week we wore the same outfit colors 3 times without realizing it.  Don't worry, we were only mistaken for Jews once! (Jews seem to wear a lot of white and black like we were wearing.  I'm sure our Hebrew rings didn't help that either.)