Week #74, Last weeks...

 This week we set back Golan's baptism date to October 11th to allow
him time to come to church 3 times before he is baptized. He is so
excited for that day! Sadly I will be home by then. Maybe I can Skype
in and see it that way! Golan came to our stake service project on
Saturday. We told him to wear grubby clothes that he could get dirty.
When we saw him we were surprised he dressed up nice in all black. We
laughed. He assured us he would be fine. When he saw we were doing
yard work in a park he suddenly realized what we meant by being able
to get your clothes dirty. So funny! So he found ways to still help
out so that he could remain clean. After awhile he forsook the idea of
staying clean and grabbed a shovel to dig holes with. Good ol' Golan!

We got to meet up with Bill, one of our less actives. This time when
we met with him, he was very comfortable in talking with us and
carrying on a conversation! We were so glad to see progress from our
strained conversation last time!

We finally got to meet with Marcel, one of our sudo investigators. He
told us he knew that Mormonism was true and that we were
representatives of God who only spoke truth. He said he prays and asks
God to help us help him! Wow! He is awesome! Right now he is in the
process of asking God if he should be baptized! So solid! We love it!

Also on Saturday we got to see Sister Elaine Dalton come to speak! Her
and her husband are wonderful and brought the spirit in so quickly.
The next day we hopped in an elevator after another conference at the
church. The man next to me introduced himself as Brother Dalton! As we
got downstairs we met up with his wife, Sister Dalton! She gave me a
hug and told me to "go and change the world!" Aw! So sweet! She was in
the General Young Women's presidency for the church when I was a young
woman!

Because of the YSA conference that was going on, our branch was
cancelled for the day. So, we got to decide what Ward we went to
instead. Of course I chose to go visit the Union Square 1st Ward, the
first ward I served in. It was great to see several of my amazing ward
members again, despite many of them having moved already. This ward is
sooooo transient!

Today is Pday, and i got to use my gift certificate our ward member
gave us for a free haircut. Haha...despite it being free, I still had
to pay $30 for the product and individual tips to my stylist and my
hair washer...strange. Anyway! It looks great!  My stylist actually
knew Mormons well since her dads side of the family is LDS! Lol, she
was even wearing a CTR ring! I was so surprised! She did not look the
part or live the part but she respected the faith! Awesome!

This week has been a bit emotional as I have come to realize my time
dwindling and things are beginning to surface again that I have tried
to suppress for a long time. I felt coming home would be the best
thing ever, but now I'm realizing how much I really do love it here
and how sad I will be to leave the life and friends I have come to
know. I feel like I have been here for soooo long and that my life is
now here. It will be an interesting transition that I'm not sure how
to approach anymore. I feel my tears will be all over the place! Haha!
But such is life :) So much to look forward to! I am very excited for
life to resume but sad to leave what I have and the missionary I have
become behind. God will help me through. I have no doubt of that!

Love Always,
Sister Weyandt

Week #73, Wonder Week

Last p-day we traveled down to Chinatown and secured some T-shirts for
me to use on a quilt I want to make when I get home. Hoping it turns
out how I envision it! I spent a lot more money down there than I had
planned, but I got some GOOD deals! :)

That night we met up for the first time with one of our new members.
He took us to the fanciest restaurant I have been to here in the city.
I felt underdressed. The prices were sky high. But man was it good! He
was so eager to help us find new investigators. It seemed strange that
he was so excited about it. But hey, we didn't mind! We also mentioned
we were reading the Book of Mormon as a mission in 120 days.
Immediately he volunteered to join us and said he would read to where
we are in 2 Nephi that night. Wow! Harvard taught him dedication and
Wall streets taught him to be competitive and driven. We were
surprised, but grateful for his enthusiasm for the work.

On September 11th we woke up to a strange orange tint from the sky
filling our rooms. We knew it was 9/11 and the unusual color puzzled
us. But it was just an extra vibrant sunrise. We traveled down to the
base of the island to do some work near the 9/11 memorial. There were
helicopters circling about and handfuls of cops ready if anything
happened! It was interesting to note that no one mentioned that it was
9/11. Nothing was different about that day or how people acted. I too
found that it did not stand out to me like it has in years past. I
wanted to start singing the song "Have you forgotten?" regarding 9/11.
I can now understand how the Lamanites and Nephites seemed to so
quickly forget the miracles they had seen. At least we have the media
to remind us. They didn't. I wondered how they could so quickly return
back to their wicked ways. But it was because they forgot. We must
never allow ourselves to forget our Savior and what he has done for
us. It will prove our destruction just as it did theirs!

We were able to meet with our new investigator, Maron, that day! He is
from Israel. He came into our lesson with some skepticism. He chuckled
a bit as we told him about prayer and prophets. When he saw our
seriousness, he quickly listened. We bore testimony of the prophet and
apostles and how God WILL answer his heartfelt prayers. It was amazing
to see his demeanor change as he really listened with fascination at
the conviction behind our words. What an awesome experience to see him
filled with hope instead of skepticism!

We got to meet with one of my favorite people this week- Heather
Andrews! She is wonderful! She has a lot of doubts and questions in
life, especially when it comes to the church. I can completely relate,
because my personality is naturally a doubting one. Many of her doubts
are ones that I had myself growing up! It was amazing to have her open
up to us...to be honest about how she feels. It is so refreshing when
people do not put on a show to please others. I loved being able to
tell her I knew how it felt, and to testify of Gods ability to change
our hearts and enlighten our understanding as we consistently choose
to follow him. She listened. Not sure if it made an actual difference,
but she listened intently, wanting to believe but only slightly.

She made me feel like my true self again. I loved that feeling! I feel
like I am being myself as a missionary, but them I realize there is a
part of me missing...a part of me that I can't seem to show to those
out here since it would be deemed "unconsecrated". It would include
telling others about my life back home, my friends, my relationships,
and the events that have molded me into the person that I have become.
At times I feel it's ok to share those things with others, but at
other times I realize it may not be wise as a missionary to share
those things. So when I was able to be completely myself with Heather
and have her understand me, I felt like the true me again. It was
feeing to day the least!

Sunday was our miracle day! God showered us...drenched us really, with
blessings! We had 3 less actives come to church, 2 people come check
out the branch for the first time upon our invitation, and Golan was
finally able to make it to church after months of trying! He loved it!
We were soooooo excited! I was grinning ear to ear much of the
meeting! Miracles, miracles! Oh, so Rob, one of the men I contacted on
the street last year who was baptized a few months ago has tried
several times to reach out to me. Last year he informed me he liked
me, so I have avoided a lot of contact with him since. I had posted on
Facebook what time we meet for church and invited all to come and join
us. He took that invitation to heart and came. Blah. During our gospel
principle class I was reading a scripture passage when I realized he
was taking pictures of me! His flash kept going off and I was shocked!
I am so creeped out (Shudder)... Captain obvious- take the flash off
before you snap creepy stalker pics of people in church!

After Relief Society, Lauri Bishop approached me and told me how
grateful she was for our "I love you text" to her this week. She said
we were great missionaries and said how she usually does not like
sister missionaries, despite her having been one. She said we have
helped her to change her perspective regarding missionaries and have
renewed her hope in them. Wow! That was awesome to hear! Heather had
told us that too, as well as another member of ours named Ros! I am so
grateful that we are making a positive impact in the lives of the
members here ;) I sure do love them!

After church we traveled up to our dinner appt, just to find the
trains were not running their full length, and the busses only took us
part way. We ended up fast walking much of the way. We were 25 minutes
late. Oops! We had scheduled he appt later so we could give him time
to prepare the meal after church. But when we arrived, dinner was
still in the making. And we realized the downtown trains to get back
home were not working. I started to get anxious, wondering how we were
ever going to get home on time. Luckily a friend of our members was
there and she offered to give us a ride home! Whew! What a tender
mercy! Plus, it was awesome to be in a car again in NYC..it's a rare
treat!

Monday was a good day! As we headed to district meeting with our
roommates, I spotted a little Chinese woman who had stopped in the
middle of the sidewalk to place down her heavy bags. I asked her if
she needed help in carrying them. It was clear she did not speak
English. So I motioned to her hat we could carry them. Her eyes lit
up! We each grabbed one of her heavy bags and followed her a few
blocks to her place! She was so grateful for our help! Despite her not
being able to speak to us, we could see her immense gratitude! That
felt good :)

While at our meeting, our branch president called us and asked if we
could come over that night to teach his son the gospel. We were so
excited! He had mentioned this to us last week and just the day before
we had set an appt with him the following Monday to teach his son. He
said he did not want such a wonderful opportunity to pass by, so he
asked us to come by both nights! Wow! We were so honored! We met up
with them and answered Willie's questions. He is a bright young man
who knows the gospel, but is searching for a testimony of it. He asked
some hard questions, but it was an incredible experience to try to
answer them! I just kept thinking how grateful I was that President
Comstock trusted us enough to teach his non-member son! Incredible!

Since time was running short, Pres. Comstock said he would catch us a
taxi so we could get home on time! I was giddy! I have wanted to ride
in a taxi my entire mission and even had it on a written bucket list
to do before I left! We made sure to document our time as we traveled
through the NYC streets! :) #tendermercy

Yesterday we met with Alex, an awkward Jewish man who is no longer
religious. We had passed him on the streets a time or two and he
agreed to meet up with us. He showed up early to meet with us. We were
still chowing down our pizza dinner. That made for a casual meeting.
We answered his questions and taught according to them. As he left he
praised us for not being pushy, but for simply sharing. That touched
me! I am grateful that others recognize that we are here to teach and
invite, not forcefully insert our beliefs.

The Union Square 1st ward sisters (my first area) called us and asked
if we could come to a handoff lesson with them in an hour or two. Yes!
We met with them and Dwight, their investigator! Dwight is golden and
we are tickled pink to have him as our new investigator. He is sincere
about learning the gospel. We are simply being spoiled with wonderful
people to teach! I am so grateful to have all these gems in my life! I
left our meeting with him feeling refreshed and fulfilled as a
missionary. And how did he find the church? Friends! Acquaintances
actually! That is how most of our super solid investigators are found.
Members, share the gospel with your friends! They need it, perhaps
more than you do right now! Pray for inspiration on who you could
invite to learn more about the church and then DO IT!

I love this gospel! I love The Lord! And I love this work!

Love Always,
Sister Weyandt

PS. My companion tells me all the time that I am not trunky :) I'm sad
to leave...so I'm working hard to the end! Don't worry about me!

Week #72, Its weeks like this...

We got 5 new investigators within the last week! Awesome! Bona is a doorman we met 3 months ago! We had seen him once and tried to set up an appt via phone ever since. No luck, despite him being so nice to us. We decided to drop in on him again while at work. We shared a scripture with him out of the Book of a or on and explained what the book was to him. He seemed very intrigued suddenly, and allowed us to set up a time to meet with him this past week! He had some great questions and appears to be golden, but he is super busy. So, we will see where at goes.

After 3 months we were also able to meet our referral, Allison! She
was a sweetheart who also had a lot of great questions about the
gospel. As we testified of prophets, apostles, and the Book of Mormon
to her, she said it made sense! We are so excited for her eagerness to
learn! We will see her again tonight and invite her to be baptized! :)

Earlier this week we went outside the temple doors and did some family
history contacting. A man named Maron saw me talking to people and
approached me from the opposite side of the sidewalk. He seemed
interested in learning more. To my surprise, he showed up at church on
Sunday. I recognized him, but did not remember how I knew him. When I
made the connection I was stunned! We had invited him to come to
church, but had not anticipated he would come! He stayed for our
gospel principles class on charity and even participated! It was
awesome! We have a return appt with him for later his week! Awesome!


Jose was a doorman sitting in for so one on their dinner break. I asked him a few questions and we got to talking about the restoration of the gospel. He is open to learning more about our faith! Awesome!

We had a Skype lesson with our pass-off eternigator, Joe. He isChinese and seems to come to church because there are people there. Our Skype video kept cutting out, so we just did the audio option.Haha...I realized I am a lot more bold over the phone than in person or via Skype. Trust me, I am pretty bold in general, but I laid down the law with him this week. I asked him why he met with missionaries. He said to learn more about the Book of Mormon. I asked him why he thought missionaries met with him. He said to lead him to baptism. I asked if that was his goal. He said not yet, but that he needs to know more people and create good relationships with them before he was baptized because if he gets baptized he thinks his current church will disown him. I informed him that as missionaries we are to help people progress towards baptism, so if that was not his goal, we could not meet up with him. We told him he was welcome to come and worship any time, but that he needed to act to gain a testimony. So, we gave him a homework assignment that requires his action. We will see if this new approach will help him to gain a testimony more of the gospel and not the social benefits it brings. Eternigators.... They are tricky.

Earlier this week we were interviewed and recorded for some cool video
being made about the Book of Mormon...just some local guy making it.
Awesome to have real nice pictures
of us as missionaries! We never have picture of us doing what we do
all day long...it's nice to have an actual representation of what my
life has been like for the last year and a half! We are in Columbus
Circle in the first one, with Central Park in the background of the
bottom one. Actually, that wall the man is sitting on is the same one
we were sitting on when the bottom picture was taken! I saw a man
(Rafael) pull out his Bible as we were here, so we started talking
with him. Then his friend, Christopher, saw us walking away and asked
us to tell him more about the Book of Mormon. He is the one in the
picture. I'm positive he was just trying to hit in us, but maybe
something will come of it...

Scott Taylor came to church this week for the first time since we met
him! He is super less active and wanted to have us stop hounding him!
Lol. After Sacrament Meeting ended, we welcomed all those who were
visiting by letting them stand up and introduce themselves. He stood
up from his spot right next to me and said "I ran into the sisters in
the train awhile ago and they have not stopped harassing me to come to
church ever since, so I came!" Lol! It worked! :) We love Scott! The
spirit was so strong at church this fast Sunday! I loved it!

Lastly, this week I have realized more and more how short my time here
is left. I have spent several hours already typing up my "mission
experience." This is a paper culminates our experience here on our
mission! I have loved thinking back on the experiences, the people,
and the knowledge I have gained in the last 17 months! What a
wonderful thing to have for my journal too years down the road! Maybe
I will even send it out to you all before I come home...it's a novel,
so be prepared!

I got two extremely special letters this week! I have not gotten more
than 4 or 5 handwritten letters in the past 6 months, so these were
already special. But what made them even more special was how
heartfelt they were. One was from a woman I adore named Kim Clifton!
She told me how my mission experiences has helped inspire her to share
the gospel with others. I was so surprised to see how she applied the
things from my mission to her own life! It touched me and helped me
realize my mission experience has far reaching affects that I never
imagined. Then my best friend Teddy wrote me a tear jerker letter!
Gosh, God has blessed me with some gems in my life!

It's weeks like this that I love! We saw the fruit of our labors all
at once, and it was a beautiful thing! The weather was great... I had
a smile on my face and a silly accent addressing my companion before I
even got out of bed...I noticed the beauty in the the sunrise over the
East River during our runs...I realized my precious time here is
dwindling and I become even more grateful for my beautiful life here!
I love my mission! I will miss it like crazy when it's over. But until
then, I am living it up and working my heart out :) I love you all!
Have a gret week and serve The Lord by serving his children!

Love Always,
Sister Weyandt

Week #71, So grateful!

Transfers were great today! My dying dream has totally been realized! My whole mission I have been hoping to have someone I know enter our mission. Today was the day! One of my old EFY girls, Brynne, is in my mission now! Yay! We caught up and I welcomed her and the newbies in :) I totally cried as I sang "Each life that touches ours for good" in farewell to my friends. It's tradition to sing that together as a mission. The sisters that went home today were the Spanish speaking sisters I came in with. So crazy that time is dwindling down! Strange to think that in 5 short weeks I will be the one up front crying my little eyes out as I look over my group of fellow missionaries who have become my family out here!

Today I loved feeling the unison of our mission as we came together at transfers. We are  all reading from the Book of Mormon and PMG together, and it has brought an increased happiness and peace to our work and our personal selves! It has been a great experience, and I am so grateful for the things I have learned in reading the Book of Mormon this time around!

I must admit, I was not super motivated one day this week. I felt bad and hoped I was not getting "trunky". It was the first day I can remember on my mission not having the desire to go out and work. But it was great to take the time to make posters for future contacting events and to serve others instead. I am wanting to move forward with faith and motivation! I really don't have any worries though. That was just one day :) I know my time here is dwindling, so I am trying to savor each moment.

This week I have had two men proclaim their love for me- and it is unnerving! In the last few weeks I have had too many similar encounters to these ones of men I know trying to be more friendly with me or asking me probing, targeted questions about what I plan to do when I go home and when I will be coming back. I find I want to just cut off all ties to them cause they are creeping me out! Haha...I will just lay low until I have to face them all!

One of our members, Maria Watkins, organized a dinner for us to meet
her non Mormon friend! We had given her Elder Ballards challenge to
invite a friend to meet with the missionaries four times a year, and
within one month of the challenge she had set it up, she is the FIRST
person out of dozens we have challenged to specifically do this. Not
sure why it is so hard for us to share the gospel with those we love,
but it is! We talk about doing it ALL the time, but rarely do we
invite them to come to church or to meet with the missionaries. I was
so impressed with Maria! Maria was shocked that her friend, Joelyn
even agreed to it, and even more shocked to see that Joelyn invited us
up to see her apt after our dinner! The work is hastening :)

Golan met with President Comstock is past week and he was so touched
by the encounter!
Golan fasted on his own and asked for work off on Sunday, he is coming
to church!!! Yayyyyy! We are elated! Haha, he blushes so bad when we
praise him for his self prescribed reading and for his motivation to
progress in the gospel before we even invite him to. What a gem he is!
I wish I were more believing like he is.

The work is plugging along and I am so grateful to be apart of it! The
weather has been hot this week for the first week this summer, but it
has not stopped our excitement to go forth and serve! I love these
people! I LOVE my branch and my amazing area of Manhattan! I love our
amazing member missionaries and how eager they are to help this branch
succeed. I am so impressed by them all every day! I want that drive
more. I want to be as involved as they are! Ah- I love when members
are truly converted! It's such a blessing :). This work is real. It is
moving forward! The doors are opening! It is all just so exciting! I
am so grateful to be apart of Gods army!  I love you all and hope you
find peace and happiness this week! Xoxo!

Love Always,
Sister Weyandt