Week #45, 11 Months

As of March 3rd, I will have been on my mission 11 whole months! Goodness, that is a long time!  I have noticed several times this week how thoughts of home have surfaced to my mind. Perhaps the birth of my new nephew spurred on this reoccurring thought (super stoked p.s.!!!

Congrats Ece and Nick! They always turn out gorgeous!). But I have found these tender thoughts of home bringing a smile to my face. I realized that as much as I love my mission, I will be very excited to come home. I am eager to be welcomed home by my three new nieces and nephews (as well as all the others), to see my cousin "on the outside" again, to see my grandpa and wrap my arms around him, to see all my friends and family again, and to simply restart my life. Sure, when that time comes I will probably be bawling and want to stay here because the thought of returning home to dating and a career will terrify me, but for right now the thought is safely 7 months away.

Of course as these thoughts came, I tried to push them aside as I realized there is still a long road ahead that needs my complete focus. Yet, I welcomed the warming thoughts when they appeared. I know there is a long road ahead here in my mission, and I am excited for what paths it will lead me down. I am excited for the people I will meet and the lives that I will touch and be touched by. I am excited for the challenges and learning that will surely come. I am excited to see the baptisms of more truth seekers. Let's just say I am excited! But I am also excited to take all these things that I have learned here in this "foreign land" back home with me. I am eager to see how I will apply these things that I have learned here into "the real world"
(despite the fact that the life of a missionary is as real as it gets). I am excited to see how my time here with these people, my companions, and this state will affect me and my future family forever. I am excited to see Gods hand in my life and recognize more fully the blessings he has given me. I am excited to see how I have
grown. I am excited to look back on my mission with wistful thoughts and tender smiles. I am eager for the opportunities that await me in my future.

But for now, I am eager to remain in my present until the future comes. This work is awesome! This is the work of God! Each day I find myself surprised by the energy and motivation I have when my alarm clock goes off. I am surprised by the butterflies that fill my stomach as I prepare for the day. I wonder why I am so excited and I try to think as to why I feel like I am going to Disneyland each morning. I still have not figured it out, but my guess is that I am starting to see a change in myself. I am starting to see a bigger, more glorious
picture. Connections are being made and my heart is beginning to understand. I am starting to feel the spirits powerful force in the lessons that are taught and in the faces of those we teach. I love seeing their countenances change, their questions extinguished, and their faces becoming thoughtful. I love seeing my heartfelt prayers and deepest desires being answered as the spirit teaches these people, not me. It is incredible to see that as I stand aside, after doing all I can do to testify of our Savior Jesus Christ, that the spirit isliterally our third companion. He comes in and takes over all of our hearts. I stand all amazed. Absolutely amazed!

Love Always,
Sister Weyandt