Christmas Pictures

Week #36, ..."soon it will be Christmas Day"

Hope all is going well for you this beautiful Christmas season! All is going well here! Things are looking up in our area! We got a new investigator who was once a former investigator. She is eager for fellowship. One of our other investigators got treatment this past week after 7 years of going undiagnosed. She is so extremely grateful for this timely miracle in her life! It was amazing to see her eagerness to learn while we testified to her of Christ's goodness and love towards her! We were able to sit in on a new member lesson this Sunday with our recent convert Travis, as he was being taught the new member lessons by one of our ward missionaries. The lesson was on temples and family history. The spirit was so strong in the lesson! We have had an  outpouring of the spirit in our lives this past week, and it has been magical to see God working on these peoples hearts, as well as our own.

This week Sister Jensen and I were able to reach an all-time teaching high of 23 lessons! I was sooooo excited! I have never been able to get above 19! What an amazing feeling to look back through my past  planners and see that I started off my first transfer cycle with 63 lessons. Bit by bit each transfer we have taught just a few more here and there. It is amazing to me how much we have grown and progressed
with a total of 88 lessons this past cycle! We have so much more to do... So many more people to teach and hearts to touch. There are just too many of them! But we are trying. We are trying our best to be totally obedient and consecrated. We love The Lord. We love His gospel. Simply put, we love :) My dreams of a mission experience are being realized and I am noticing more and more how in the details God is in my life! I love you and wish you a very merry CHRISTmas!

Love Always,
Sister Weyandt

Sent from my iPad

Week #35, I'm in Love!

It has been a great week!  Slow, but great!  We have seen so many blessings and answers to our prayers for more people to be led into our lives!  We decided to try our online event/lesson this week and put our faith forward to do it, knowing that our mission president promised blessings to come our way if we do.  It was exciting to see the success it brought (up until our internet connection cut out) and how many people joined in the conversation.  Later that day we had 2-3 encounters where the people openly accepted a gospel conversation and some even gave us their contact info.  It was a wonderful day!  The blessings our president promised us came IMMEDIATELY!  We were so happy as we walked home that night, knowing that God was blessing us so much!

Our area has been slow lately because of the holidays, and we have found that there is a lack of people to teach.  So, we decided to call some former investigators in our area.  We got a phone call back from one of them saying it was funny we called, because she recently got in contact with another ward this week and hopes to go to church there this Sunday!  There are no coincidences.  God is in the details of it all!

All is well here in South Manhattan!  I'm excited to be here for another 7 weeks!  This time around I was scared for transfer calls.  I did not feel ready to leave.  This is home.  I have too many more things to do.  Too many more I's to dot and T's to cross.  I have more I need to do.  More people to reach out to.  More lives to impact.  More to teach my trainee.  More, more, more.  I did not feel like I could leave yet.  So I worried that after being here for 8 months already that I would be moved.  We both prayed fervently for more time together in this area if it was the Lords will.  What relief I felt when we got the news (at 11:05 pm) that we were together again for another cycle!  WHEW!  How great was my joy!  I needed another cycle at least!  And I am so grateful to the Lord for the opportunity to stay here again!  He truly answers my prayers!

It has been such a wonderful opportunity for me to serve down here in South Manhattan.  I have learned so much down here.  My testimony has grown.  I have been able to learn so much from those who we teach and serve with.  What a wonderful bunch of saints I get to associate with!  I could not have asked for a better area to be "stuck" in!  This place and these people have wedged themselves deep within my heart, and I will never be the same.  And for that I am thankful! I am in love with my beautiful South Manhattan!

Love Always,

Sister Weyandt

Pictures:

#1- Chinatown in Christmastime decor!  This is my home!

#2- My South Manhattan zone!  LOVE them!

#3- Me, Sister Jensen, Hermana Laititi, and Hermana Dunn were playing "Minute to Win It" games for our P-day Eve :D  It was SOOO fun! 

Week #34, "This is Real Life"

"This is Real Life" is our new "term" as a companionship.  Whenever something unbelievably amazing happens, we say this to each other!  And since we have quite a few unbelievably amazing things happen to us, this is said hourly!  lol!

This week we had a "free day" as missionaries as we were able to travel from Grand Central to upstate New York in Ossining!  It was GORGEOUS up there!  No tall buildings, taxis, or people.  There were hardly any houses!  Haha... it was great!  I felt like it was home.  I miss seeing grass.  I miss clusters of trees (Central Park trees DO count, but it is so much better when they are planted by mother nature, not by man).  I miss quiet, small towns.  So, this was a wonderful treat for me.  I began to get scared though, knowing I have been saying for the past few months that I would like to go upstate to the boonies so I could have a taste of "home" life back.  When we traveled up there, I was in awe.  How do they do missionary work up here, I thought in a panic?!  They cannot just walk out their door and have a BAZILLION people to talk to.  They have to travel forever to find someone, and they have to tract.  WHAT?!  This was real life too!  Haha!  

It was a WONDERFUL Christmas devotional though, complete with fabulous music from our missionary choir, and a Christmas dinner.  I loved seeing all of my friends throughout the mission.  We only come together once a year, and this was it!  So we made the most of it!  My trainer, Sister Martin, is heading home to the Philippines now.  She said her family will be sealed in the temple just a few days after returning home!  What a wonderful Christmas gift for the all!  

There are several baptisms that are happening throughout our zone it seems!  We had Larry and Travis get baptized last week, and Rie Denning was baptized this week in Elder Wang and Smiths area.  Katherine will be baptized this weekend too from Sister Khong and Awerkamps area!  Simply wonderful to be apart of!

All of us missionaries here on Manhattan island were able to sing in a HUGE Christmas Concert at the temple building this week.  What a wonderful experience that was!  It has been such a fantastic week with all of our friends (missionaries, members, investigators, etc).  These people have become like family to me and I love them all so much!  Sister Jensen is such a blessing to me as a companion!  We have fun in all we do.  We teach well together.  We get along.  We laugh.  We share.  We serve.  We love.  We reach out to others.  We encourage each other.  We are missionaries, and we love it!  

I would love to have you watch this wonderful Mormon Message about the true reason for the season https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2013-11-018-the-reason-behind-christmas?lang=eng.  I love you all and thank you for your love, letters, prayers, and support!  You are wonderful!  I hope you have a very merry Christmas!  Remember why you are the way you are and who has helped you to get there.  Remember the Lord in all things that you do.  He will guide your path as you show him your willingness to follow it.  I promise!

Love Always,

Sister Weyandt

Pictures:

#1- My first district ever was reunited at our mission's Christmas Devotional this week!  Elder Smith, Elder Holzer and my trainer Sister Martin are going home this coming Monday!  They will be missed!  #wonderful missionaries

#2- So... we bought ourselves a Christmas tree :D  We just had to!  Christmas just isn't the same without it!  We found some decorations from last year in the clerks office at church, and he gave us permission to have them!  SCORE! This made for two VERY happy sister missionaries

#3- Lorraine is AWESOME!  She decorates her hallways each Christmas in wrapping papers, lights, ornaments, and "snow".  She even had a nutcracker out!  I DIED with happiness as I walked through her little winter wonderland!

Week #33, Christmastime in the City!

Thanksgiving was great this year!  We got to spend it with one of our members, Sister Woolf and her friend (Stacy), as well as her cousins (Dana and Marlin).  We had a wonderful time together, and I got to have one of my bucket list items crossed off my list!  For years I have thought it would be fun to go around the table and share what each person was thankful for.  I requested we do that this year, and they were all eager to oblige!  It was wonderful to see what everyone was truly thankful for.  So wonderful to hear and participate in with these wonderful people!

We had a WONDERFUL week filled with two baptisms!  One of them was Larry Knox.  He was so excited to surprise his family over Thanksgiving with the news of his permission to be re-baptized!  His father was able to baptize him again for the second time!  So, so cool!  

Our exchanges with the Sister Training Leaders was wonderful as always!  We were able to join in with the rest of the zone at our APF (area proselyting focus) at the Winters Eve festival in Lincoln Center.  We set up a table just outside of the Manhattan temple with pamphlets, pass along cards, and Mormon Tabernacle Choir CD's.  Those who wanted to get their free hot chocolate stood in a line that passed the materials table.  It was a hit handing out free hot chocolate and sharing the gospel with those as they waited in line!  There were a dozen or so missionaries out on the street talking to people and inviting them to a wonderful Christmas concert we are having this Saturday in the Lincoln Center chapel (inside the same structure as the temple, but a different entrance).  One of my favorite parts of the night was seeing David, one of our temporary ASL Elders (he was a convert of our current ASL Elders and is now on a 1 month mini mission as their companion) handing out these Christmas concert flyers to EVERYONE who passed.  He is deaf, so when someone would ask questions, he would just bring them to us.  At one point I looked over and saw him dancing to the band's music (even though he can't hear it) as he passed them our to people!  It was so funny!  David is AWESOME! We got several peoples information and hopefully they will let us come and teach them more about the restored gospel!  :D  

So you know this Christmas concert that I was explaining about?  Well, we were just informed a few days ago that we would be singing "Joy to the World" at it.  And someone (I have no idea who yet) ratted me out that I could sing, and I was volunteered to do it.  I love to sing, but my voice does crazy things when I am nervous, and I was not sure it could stand being in front of 1,000-1,500 people.  So, when someone spontaneously volunteered to do it instead, I let them take the solo!  WHEW!  It would have been fun to do, but I am not sure it would have turned out quite like we practiced it.  I am really excited for the concert though! The song sounds amazing with all 70ish of us missionaries!

Our recent convert, Jobie, is preparing to die.  He is 69, and has several serious medical problems he is battling right now and he does not anticipate to live more than a month or so.  We hope to be able to go to the temple with him to do baptisms for the dead for his deceased family members.  He is excited to do the work and we are excited to be able to join with him!  He has such a powerful testimony of the gospel!  He is ready to return to live with his Father again!  :D  We will miss him, but we know where he is headed!  We told him yesterday he is being taken so he can be a missionary in the spirit world!  I believe that!

I love this area.  I love these people!  I love my companion.  I love New York!  I love this mission! I love the Lord! It is all so wonderful!

Love Always,

Sister Weyandt

#1- The view of Downtown Manhattan from Sister Woolf's place on Thanksgiving

#2- Me, Stacy, Sister Jensen, Sister Woolf, Dana, and Marlin at Thanksgiving

#3- This is our church building!  It was an old convent, but in the past 10 or so years has become an LDS church!  I love this building!