This has been a wonderful week! We have been so blessed with so much
love and so many opportunities to share that love with others! I have grown so much this week...so much! I have loved it, even though it has
been a rough week.I was able to go on a split with my sister training leader, Sister Smith. She taught me so much in just 24 hours! I was blown away by how natural she was at being a missionary! She contacted so naturally, taught so beautifully, and she even prayed before every door we knocked on (whether for an appointment or a lookup). She reminded me so much of my sister, Clenece. She is that person everyone just loves naturally...no one could hold a grudge against her. She is the person everyone can go to for a listening ear, knowing that that information will never be passed on. I LOVE Sister Smith! We kept busy ALLLLL day long! It was amazing, I can't wait till our area becomes established like theirs!
I was able to eat dinner with the Ciccotelli's the night of our split. Brian (and Isa) is the brother of one of the members in my last ward(Chris and Maryellen Ciccotelli). They ran into us and invited us to come to dinner with them. Wonderful!
After we unsplit, we had a miracle happen! Sister Richeson was looking at a list for an address while I smiled at a man who was passing by. To my surprise, he stopped and asked if we needed help finding something. He then saw our name badges and asked if we were the ones who would ring his buzzer and share scriptures with him. Lol...nope. Not us. (Maybe it was he JW's). We got in a great conversation and HE asked if we could meet up sometime! We were stoked! Bill fits into our age range and lives in Manhattan. He holds a job and does not live inthe projects! He is a rare breed and we are excited to meet up with him next week!
God blessed us with another miracle too with a man named Khalil! He is an investigator that Elder Edmunds and Nielsen passed off to us. I was so shocked by how easy it was to teach him. I was able to get back into my "normal missionary" zone so naturally. I have not been able to teach like that in a long time to an investigator since we have no investigators in this area yet. Whitewashing has its pros, but also has its many cons. I was so excited to be able to see I had not lost my way of teaching. It made my whole MONTH to be able to teach aninvestigator like that again and to see him understand. I loved answering his questions to promote real growth, not to just answer his unending questions. I am excited to teach Khalil more!
Oh, guess what? My brother in law, Nick, served in Canada on hismission. His AP, Jamison Manwaring, lives in my branch and took us to dinner the other night, he rocks! Ros Ord took us out to dinner last night too! We walked out to 125th on the West side to look out over the Hudson River and take pictures. She told us that she usually does not like sister missionaries, but she loves us! Said that we were the first missionaries she has ever taken out to dinner or taken a picture with! We were so touched! She is an extremely active member, and she still felt that way towards missionaries before us. We felt so special! Our branch members are so amazing and show us so much love and appreciation!
We got a call on Tuesday night from a man named Steven Holt. He is a temporary visitor we met a few weeks ago. He use to be an MTC teacherfor 5 years. When we first met him a few weeks ago, asked if he could come teaching with us. We told him we had no investigators, but if we did, we would call him up. So, when he called, he said he had a referral for us! One of his friends he works with has been asking him a lot of questions about the church. He is from China. When he looked up the definition of Mormon on his phone, it told him it was a people who believed in polygamy. Lol. Steven told us he answered a lot of his questions, but Long He is excited to learn more! Amazing!
Yesterday we went to volunteer at the Common Pantry as we usually do. A sweet young woman lit up when she saw us walk in. "Ding ding ding, we have a member!" No one greets us so warmly unless they are a member. To our surprise, she actually is getting baptized this weekend! We were soooo excited for her! Some of our other missionary friends showed up and she was in heaven! She even got to meet Elder Fronk, her interviewer for baptism, before the actual interview. It was beautiful to see her excitement for the gospel and to be apart of it all officially. She was introduced to church by a young man a few years ago, and reconnected with the church when she came to New York! The church is true! :D
So, I have been having a lot of strange, mixed feelings this week. I have had so many feelings that I can't quite put my finger on. I don't know why I have felt many of the feelings I have been experiencing. My companion thought I was angry with her, despite me assuring her I wasn't. She has had very little to do with how I am feeling actually. I have had feelings of anger, annoyance, gratitude, spiritual growth, unsurety, confusion, humility, hope, and charity. All of this mixed together this week caused me to be mellow, mostly around my companion.I have internally been trying to discipher why I have been feeling this way, and trying to turn to The Lord for direction. It has been a really sweet experience to feel my heart change so quickly. I have been so grateful this week for the opportunity to be tried through my emotions to come closer to my Savior. It had promoted accelerated growth within myself. I am loving it! It has been really cool for me to see the past few years how I have responded to the trials of my life. I have recognized that I embrace them, rather than praying them away. I love trials, even in the moment :) Our God is good! My God is good :)
Lastly, the best news of all! This week a TRUE miracle took place! Sister Richeson's father, is amazing! Last Wednesday Sister Richeson gave me a list of questions her father had. I spent my studies searching for scriptures that would help answer his questions. I used my iPad "tags" to locate the most powerful scriptures I have foundover the past 9 months to help him. She sent the scriptures to him. The next day or two he met with he sister missionaries in that are and read the scriptures with them. He wanted to answer the question of whether he should get baptized or not. He read the first scripture in 2 Nephi 31:12 "And also, the voice of the Son came unto me, saying: He that is baptized in my name, to him will the Father give the Holy Ghost, like unto me; wherefore, follow me, and do the things which ye have seen me do." He asked himself after reading it, "well, what if this or what if that?" So, the sisters suggested he move on and read the next scripture.
He read: "And it came to pass that he said unto them: Behold, here are the waters of Mormon (for thus were they called) and now, as ye are desirous to come into the fold of God, and to be called his people, and are willing to bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light;
Yea, and are willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death, that ye may be redeemed of God, and be numbered with those of the first resurrection, that ye may have eternal life--
Now I say unto you, if this be the desire of your hearts, what have you against being baptized in the name of the Lord, as a witness before him that ye have entered into a covenant with him, that ye will serve him and keep his commandments, that he may pour out his Spirit more abundantly upon you?" Mosiah 18:8-10
He was quiet and then said "I just need to do it. I need to stop worrying and just get baptized!" When the St. George sisters called up Sister Richeson to tell her this, she was speechless. after she hung up! she ran through our apartment screaming "My Dad is getting baptized!!!" He is waiting for her to come home this weekend to pick a date!
And to top it all off, he utterly shocked us all on Sunday morning when he went to church all my himself! Hewas not invited to go this week. No one went with him. God had answered his prayer and cleared his morning schedule, so he went. He has been to church twice in his life. Once because he was forced by his mother in law and the second for Sister Richeson's farewell. He has never gone otherwise. This was a miracle! Miracles happen! Believe in them!
Sister Richeson is now gone, along will 30 other friends of mine! I knew and loved almost every missionary who went home today. They are amazing! I am excited to meet my new companion, Sister Boseman, soon!
God is working in the details of ALL of our lives! Be excited! He loves you and is mindful of you! Seek for the spirit this week and do all that you can to try a little harder to be a little better! I love you all!
Love Always,
Sister Weyandt
#content #deeplyhappy #lookingforwardwithfaith
#onthefringeofanothermiracle #livingthedream
Me and Sister Boseman upon meeting 5 minutes ago! She rocks! Love her already!
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