Week #57, A little piece of Heaven

It has been a good, short week! I swear I just barely had Pday....but time is FLYING here on e mission! Last week we took time out of our Pday to go to Rose's sisters "wake" or viewing. She was so excited to see us there! She asked for us to say a prayer with her you her sister, and to sit with her as her friends and family filed in and offered their condolences. I felt like we were the odd ones out since everyone seemed to know everyone else but us. I felt her family should be the ones sitting next to her. But instead, she chose us! I was touched. She introduced us to almost everyone who came up to her as her "angels." Many of them said "Oh! Are these the girls you've been telling me about?" They would then thank us for all we have done for her. Later, Rose told us how many people had come up to her after we left and commented about how kind we were and how they could tell we "were with The Lord." That was an awesome experience! It was also nice to sit and contemplate over the purpose of this life. I thought of her sister Lucie and how she had once upon a time been someone's baby girl, and now she was gone. She and her husband had decided not to have children. I realized how hollow that lifestyle would be after her husband passed away 6 weeks ago. It was a tender time and I had tears of sympathy in my eyes for this wonderful family! AND, there was a strong feeling of peace and joy at the viewing. I had anticipated sorrow and pain as I had been told that there was at non-Mormon funerals. Is is not true! They knew they would see her again and they had a strong hope of that knowledge! Interesting to witness!

The next day we went to see Sister Ciccotelli! As we were talking with her, my voice cracked and my eyes dripped tears as I told her how much I loved her and how I sympathized with her for the immense trials that are being heaped upon her and her husband. Maryellen was baptized in December, and has been trying to make good choices that will bless their lives, but it seems like each time they try to progress that they get slapped back. I could see myself in that situation someday, and the reality of it hurt my heart. Maryellen opened up to us and shared her thoughts and feelings with us, which was a direct answer to my prayer earlier that morning! God is mindful of her. And it is in him I will put my trust to help her through this tough journey she has ahead! I mentioned to her about a patriarchal blessing and what it is. She was very attentive as I explained it. I think she is very interested in getting one! It will be such a blessing to her!

That night we ate dinner with Rosemary and non-member grandson. He invited us to come back after we taught our lesson! Awesome! We were so excited to go to the wards Open Mic night after that, because one of our potential investigators was there! And she brought a friend! Haha...Airiana (14) sang while her friend Gwen (11) did an interpretive dance! It was entertaining for sure! Lol. I have never seen a cute little 11 year old with so much personality and confidence before! We set up a time to go visit Airiana! We hope to make her our newest investigator this week! She is great!

So, on Saturday I got round 2 of ozone nasty flea bites all over the back of my legs! On Mother's Day I noticed I had a ton of super itchy bites on the he back of my legs. They looked like the same bites I got last year. Some ward members took pity on my raw legs and suggested medications. I tried a few different things and was able to minimize the itch. After a week and a half it had significantly calmed down and started to heal. But, they came back in full force after we left a less actives house. I put two and two together and realized we only visit them on Saturdays, and their dog was not well kept. I had a second dose of torture this week! Haha. Oh well. Such is life! I just make sure I have an ice pack on my legs throughout the day to numb the pain and wake up throughout the night to medicate and ice them all over again. I think phone call lessons will be in order from here on out :)

One of our less active/active member families in the ward gave us a gift card to Wal-Mart when we went to go visit them on Sunday. We thanked them over and over again and told me how much we love Wal-Mart (hense our video from 2 weeks ago). We got in the car and looked on the back of the card to see it contained a very large sum of money on the card! We suddenly remembered we were not suppose to take money from the members! We talked about it for a few minutes, then decided to be apostate missionaries and keep it! Haha! So, I am not totally angelic. Sorry! We were very grateful to go to the store today and buy all we wanted and splurge a little! :) I love members!

We had a wonderful day yesterday helping Rose work on her sisters (the one that passed away) yard. It had not been touched in years. We spent two hours on it and only scratched the surface! She appreciated our help so much! We taught her the Restoration, and she said a lot of what we teach her just makes sense. She said she wants to come to church on Sunday, and so thinks her friend might want to come too! Yay! After our dinner appointment with the Blaine's, we took pictures with them. They are moving in 2 weeks, and will be greatly missed. The kids invited us to jump on the trampoline with them. Haha... No way! We were in skirts! Elder Fotheringham checked his white handbook to see if trampoline jumping was against the rules. When he saw there was no mention of it, he raced to it! Haha! Sister Bolton looked over at me and with excitement in her eyes, she said "We have Pday clothes in the car from helping Rose today!" I thought she was joking, but she was totally serious! So, we quickly changed and kicked the boys off the trampoline! It was one of the first times in a very long time that I have taken the chance to have fun and take a break! It felt great! I am grateful Sister Bolton suggested it! :)

It has been such a wonderful week! The spirit has been strong in our lessons. Our quiet ones are opening up and trusting us more. Sister Bolton and I are becoming better friends. Our mission president asked our zone leaders specifically about us since we have been setting high goals and working hard to accomplish them. Miracles are happening each and every day! I am beginning to see that there is need for improvement in myself again...I just need to figure out what it is and how to work on it! But things are swell here in Newburgh!

Hurrah for Israel!

Love Always,
Sister Weyandt

Week #56, Let the good times roll...

Not much new to report on this week, just living the dream with a super motivated companion. This week Linda was touched as we showed her the Restoration video. She still does not seem to want to consider baptism, but she is feeling the spirit and has started to read the Book of Mormon. She said she is jealous of those who got to see him here in the Americas and who got to touch his hands and side. She is

Our Stake Conference this weekend was AWESOME! They invited the youth ages 12 and up to join the Saturday adult session. They stressed the importance of family and family history. The Saturday session was uniquely interactive with a panel of people with real life problems who were asked to share their "stories" with us. A recent convert and recently returned less active also shared their stories. It was awesome to see these peoples success stories all these months later! :) Our investigators, Alyson and Samantha, were there and loved it! Plus President Morgan attended it, so it was the best meeting ever!

As we were doing our weekly planning I had the desire to invite Rose to church. But instantly I had the thought "She will not leave her sister home all alone. She is too sick to leave the house. Rose will not come to church until her sister passes away." I was saddened by this reality. We called her twenty minutes later to confirm an appointment with her. She told us her sister had just barely passed away earlier that morning. I was shocked! Poor Rose! And then I remembered my thought just moments before. God was opening up the path for Rose to progress by allowing her sister to depart. Of course I am sad this occurred, but grateful for the Lords perfect timing! Today is her sister Lucie's "wake" (viewing). She asked us if we could come and be with her through it. It is our Pday, but we just could not tell her no. She is turning to us for help, and we will gladly give it!

Just yesterday we went to her home with the Elders and Paul Nardella (our member) to mow her grass, weed wack, trim the hedges, fix a broken step, and set up some patio furniture. Paul eagerly shared the gospel with her...and being Paul he probably shared too much with her. But I love his enthusiasm for the gospel. It was a wonderful experience, and we did a great job on her yard!

I must admit, I was frustrated yesterday. I did not say anything to express it, but I felt it for sure. Sister Bolton is often so extremely motivated to meet our goals, that it causes me anxiety. I am impressed and encouraged by her dedication, but sometimes I wish the numbers did not matter as much as the people or our own sanity. We are often late to meetings because it is hard to get out of the previous one (boy can these people talk and talk and talk), or we get a late start because she loses track of time (and I hate to rush people or tell them what to do). So I often get anxious with running late to one meeting and rushing it to make sure we get to our next one on time so we can meet the goals we have set in our super packed day.

Yesterday we were informed that our dinner appointment was last minute changed to 4:30 instead of 4:00. We had to be out the door by 5:00 to make it to our 5:30 appointment. I suggested we cancel the 5:30 appointment since it was set up last minute anyway and we had an appointment with that same couple this weekend. But Sister Bolton has a lot of faith and desperately wants to reach our goals. So, she said we could get in, eat, teach a lesson, and get out in 30 minutes. I told her how the food was probably not on the table,me elders were not there yet, and we had never met this family before and it most likely would not work out. Bless her heart, hand has so much faith and knew we could do it. I kept my mouth shut and let her make the decision. When she realized the plan was not going to work out, she suggested we do a last minute split with the members and still go teach our lessons but change out 5:30 lesson to an hour later. Haha... I think my stress level was at about a 8 or 9. I did some calls and texts to let them know we were running late, but I was grateful when we finally got in the car to leave that Sister Bolton sucked up her pride and made the calls necessary to cancel our appointment. I did not hold a grudge or anything, but I do wish I did not feel stressed by needing to meet goals to make her happy. I feel when we do not reach all our goals at night that she is disappointed. I am just grateful for the many lessons we were blessed with and not worry about the ones we did not get. But hey, difference in perspective huh?

My companion Sister Bolton works super duper hard and we get along well. We still are not really good friends which I wish we were, but we get along just fine and get the work done. We want to become better friends and have more fun in the work, but we are unsure how to do so. Anyway... Not a big deal.

So, I am kinda not sure what to think about my mission being almost over. It seemed like it would last forever, and at times it has felt like it has, but it is coming to an end soon. I realized during our Mother's Day calls home that I wasn't really missing out on too much back at home. Everything was pretty much the same. So I am more grateful for the precious time I have out here to serve now! :)

Miracles are happening all over! It is unreal! This really is Gods work! I know we say that all the time, but sometimes our words are parroted and hollow. But it is true! I just know it! :) I am so grateful to be part of a Gods army!

Love Always,
Sister Weyandt


progressing!

Week #55, Dream Week!

This week was a miracle week! This week was the week everyone dreams about when they serve a mission or think about what mission life is like. It was perfect!  We came home each night and exclaimed "That was a MIRACLE! Wow!"

So, Alyson and Samantha (our investigators) came to a Relief Society activity this week, and so did Sally (one of our less actives)! We were giddy that they came! I is extremely rare for us to have someone we teach come to anything.

On Friday we had an appointment with Betsy Gibauld and her cute family. I have called them up almost weekly for three months trying to get in their door. We were so excited to finally get an appointment, but last week they "juked" us, so we prayed fervently that they would be there this week. We were so excited when not only were they there and let us us, but gathered the whole family together, turned off the TV, and listened intently. It was like out of the Preach My Gospel videos! The spirit was strong and we invited them to be baptized. They sincerely said they would pray about it as a family! They were very excited to set up another appointment to see us next week! We are stoked! I have been praying for a family my entire mission, and they are so ready! Keep them in your prayers! :)

Linda is one of our other investigators. She is super Catholic and does not understand why we keep inviting her to be baptized since she has already been baptized by the Priesthood in the Catholic church. No amount of explaining seems to help her understand. We were unsure what to do. Should we drop her, or keep teaching her in hopes something would catch her understanding. Pics had the impression to tell her that there is literal divinity within us, because we are Gods children. She asked me how I knew that. I said it was because I felt it was true when I was taught it. She then said "You know, I have never told this to anyone before, but while I was meeting with the Jehovah Witnesses, I prayed to God and asked him to lead me to where I needed to go to gain eternal salvation. And then you two showed up are my door. I know there is something to learn from you, I am just not sure what." Wow! We were shocked! We have hope that we can give her what God needs her to learn, she just needs to receive it :)

It was fun to do my third and last FaceTime call home to my family on Mother's Day!  I loved seeing the while family and talking as if I never left. I love my little ones too (nieces and nephews). They have changed a little bit, but are still their cute little selves. The other day one of my missionary friends asked me "if you could do anything that you wanted right now, what would you do?" I said "See my nieces and nephews!" I sure do love them!

 Well, like I wrote about last week, Sister Bolton and I set some lofty goals this week for lessons. We realized by Wednesday that we were being stretched thin and were not focusing on the people as much as we were the lessons. We were running around frantic to get 8 lessons packed in to each day, despite our District meeting, Pday, and weekly planning hours taking up that precious teaching time. So, mid week we
decided to slow down and focus on the things that matter most. We still did a fantastic job this week though by reaching an all time high of 34 lessons taught! We beat our areas highest actual s in three years by over 10 lessons. The mission high is 47 lessons taught by my powerhouse former zone leader, Elder Witbeck. We totally could have reached that goal if we hadn't slowed down the pace, but we figured our sanity is more important. But we now have a new record to beat :) My previous high was 23 lessons I believe, so this was epic!

Yesterday we had another miracle happen. We pulled into an area to drop in on a potential investigator names Pinky. We were eager to see Rose Karpinski out in her yard. She is another potential of ours that I have high hopes for. She called us up last night and accepted our offer to help her with her yard work. So, we hurried or get out of the car to go talk to her. She was happy to see us. She told us about her sisters failing health and invited us to see her condition for ourselves. Instantly my mind became alert. We had been trying for three months to get inside her home, and she always politely refused because of this or that. So when she invited us to see her sisters condition, I thought she would just let us peek through a window or something. To my absolute astonishment, she let us into her home! I was ecstatic! She is trusting us! We talked with her about the gospel and she bore her testimony to us. She kept saying she felt the spirit. We asked her if we could say a prayer at her sisters bedside. She gladly welcomed it, and even turned off the tv mid prayer to allow the spirit to fully be there! It was beautiful! We are so excited to go and visit her tomorrow! She is golden!

Last night we were wanted to go tracting. We were going to turn around and tract a street we had passed, but decided to tract the complex we had pulled into to turn around. The first door we knocked quickly shut once we announced who we were. A yell from the kitchen table exclaimed "You worship the devil!" Haha...woah! First time I have gotten that response. Every other door we knocked was rude, completely not
interested, or just not home. We were shocked. We never got that. A visiting mechanic was kind to us and encouraged us to keep spreading the word. To my surprise, a young lady emerged from the first door we knocked on. She called out to us "Hey, I think you forgot something!" "The card?" I called out to her. "Yeah, you left it by accident" she snidely retorted. "I calmly took it back and said, "Do you know any Mormons?" (Thinking she must've had a terrible encounter with one before by the way she was acting). She was quick to state that she didn't and confidently walked away as she told us again that we worshiped the devil. Huh.... There are some interesting people out there!

Alyson and Samantha both told us yesterday that they do not want to be baptized anymore. I thought that was the case. I loved that they were honest with us. We invited them to really read the Book of Mormon with a desire to know if it is true, and to pray in faith for their answers. I am not giving up on them yet. They are still excited to come to church though, so we are plugging on! :)

And today, Sister Bolton and I had a WONDERFUL experience today.... We both got to go into Wal-Mart for the first time since we have been on our missions! We have missed it SO much, and have been giddy to go back. We even recorded ourselves going in and took pictures to remember the beautiful moment :) We got a lot of seeds and soil, and are going to start planting here soon! We are super excited! I know she won't pick whatever green thing that grows like Kyle did!

I am SO extremely grateful to The Lord for showering down miracles on us as we have extended our faith and sought his help in bringing his children back into the fold. I pray every day that we can have his spirit with us to lead and guide us. He is doing just that, and with his help, miracles are happening! How grateful I am to be his missionary!

Love Always,
Sister Weyandt

Week #54, We are on fire!

Sooooo.... Last week was transfers. I got a new companion named Sister Bolton. We came out together last year and served with each other for a few months in South Manhattan. She is wonderful! I thought she would
be very quiet and shy like she use to be, but the mission has changed her, and now she is conversational and bold in her teaching! And, Sister Bolton is totally kicking my trash.....AND I LOVE IT! She is so focused, so driven! Our missions standards for excellence entails 21 lessons each week, a high goal. But that goal is not high enough for her. This week she said to me: "Setting small goals accomplishes small things." So, instead of  21 lessons a week, we have 54 lessons this week as our goal!  We are trying to double or even triple the high standard the mission has already set! It is awesome!

I was stunned by her faith and her drive, but we are seeing it happen! We had 9 lessons on Monday, and 8 yesterday. With today being Pday, she is STILL pushing to meet our high goals for the day! Wow! I am sooooooo grateful for an extremely motivated companion who understands her purpose as a missionary. We agree on almost everything...we are very similar. I love this companionship!  We are still working on becoming good friends, but that will come over time :) She is great! I am very excited for what e future brings!

Earlier this week we tried an experiment-to pray for inspiration as to what streets we should tract to find new investigators. We did that, wrote down the streets we individually felt inspired to tract, then compared our lists to see which ones were duplicates. We decided to tract those and went to work. We found a brother and sister out playing basketball on their street. We felt awkward approaching them, but we did it. We showed them the awesome Mormon Message "Because of Him" and asked about their faith in Jesus Christ. The spirit was so strong! They want us to come back! YES! We are so excited to go back and teach them! The Lord answered our prayers! We found another new investigator when we went to teach Alyson and Samantha earlier this week! It has been such an incredible experience as we simply have tried opening our mouths more!

Even this morning at the grocery store we wanted to teach someone there, and we had a man named Donald talk to us as we were about to head out. He was getting some meat cut by the butcher, so he talked with us for a bit. He ended up not being interested in God at all, but said he had read the Book of Mormon to fill his thirst for knowledge. After we bought our groceries, the butcher who had helped Donald with his order saw me carrying my boxes of bagels and asked if I needed help. I didn't, but after a second of thinking about our prayer to find someone to teach, I accepted his offer. He walked us out to the car and we talked about the weather, where we were from, and started leading into a gospel discussion. We did not get far before he had to head back I to work, but we made an impression. We were so excited for the opportunities a God is giving us to open our mouths! Miracles are happening, and we are on fire!

Love Always,
Sister Weyandt