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

Week #53, Transfer Time

Soooo... This week was good! Chillier than last week and the week before, but still warmer than Winter :) It has been a really good week though! We suspected Sister Steele was going to be transferred, so we made sure to have a good week, take lots of pictures, and say her goodbyes. We went to an appointment with our investigator, Linda Keenan. She is the sweetest woman ever! I adore her. I had the prompting to share with her about the importance of The Book of Mormon, and to bear my testimony of it. She told me she believed it was the word of God, but she hasn't even read it yet. I testified to her that she needed to receive a witness of its truthfulness through the Holy Ghost. I testified that God will answer her as she asks in faith. And if she know the Book of Mormon to be true, then the church which "espouses" it is also true. She listened intently as I testified of the truthfulness of the book. She agreed to read, and requested the chapters where Christ visited the Americas. I am excited to see her progress when we go to visit her next week!

I think I have written about one of our members before named Paul Nardella. He is a miracle convert of about 5 years, and he invites us over for a meal at least once a week, if not up to three times a week! He takes care of us for sure! I wanted to thank him for all he does by making something for him. So, we invited the entire district to a German Pancake breakfast, since most had never had hem before! They fell in love with them! It was fun to see the surprise on their face when I told them it was just flour, milk, and eggs. It was fun to finally make a meal for him!

Haha...it seems like the highlights of my week revolve around food. We got to have a picnic with Sister Magdalany and Sister Robertson. It was an Italian picnic with tons of yummy anti-pasta and sweets! She
even brought a football for us to play around with! My favorite! It was great!

Alyson and Samantha are doing well still and are preparing to be baptized on May 31! We are stoked! We went to West Point (the "Harvard" of all military schools) for institute last night with Chiara, one of our members. I felt like I was driving through a castle as we drove through the ancient military school. It was gorgeous! I loved being in an institute class again and being the one who is taught! It was a cool experience too to see all of the students dressed up in their uniforms and testifying of their love for Jesus Christ and the Book of a Mormon. It was a powerful experience! They will be fabulous, righteous leaders someday!

So, the news you will all be interested to hear- Sister Steele is being transferred to Inwood (and her new companion is one of my favorites- Sister Oluwalana. She recently came back to the mission from a medical leave. She is GREAT!) She will take great care of Sister Steele! And I will be receiving Sister Bolton, a sister I served with down in South Manhattan. We came into the mission together. I hear she is a hard worker. I am excited to hit the pavement with her!

Anyway, I hope you all have a fabulous week! I love you all! Take care! Xoxo!

Love Always,
Sister Weyandt

Week #52, "You're gonna miss this..."

We finally got one of our investigators to come to church! Yay! Samantha was the first investigator I have had come to church since I got here 3 months ago! Whew- that is a loooong time to not have an investigator at church! We were thrilled to have her there to celebrate Easter with us. She loved church! We are so excited to extend the commitment to her to be baptized this week! I think she will accept it! :) Keep her and her friend Alyson (our other investigator) in your prayers please!

After church we went to a converts house for dinner with her and her non member family. Her family was so sweet and they expressed love for all the missionaries! Her mother told me that she loves us, because when we talk about the gospel we light up. She does not see that in other youth. That comment made me happy. We read The Living Christ with them and each of us bore testimony of the Savior. Then we took our member, Chiara, to a lesson with us with a less active and her non member husband. This was our second encounter with them. Our member bore such a strong and powerful testimony to this couple! I was blown away by her boldness and surety of the gospel, seeing as she herself is struggling. It was awesome!

My companion, Sister Steele, and I are doing well! At times she still gets in her moods, but I have learned those moods usually stem from disappointment in herself because she compares too much. But we are having fun and working hard!  Yesterday we taught 3 lessons in 3 hours! It was an absolute miracle, especially with travel time involved! This will most likely be our last week together as companions. We have been told that she is very likely to be transferred. I will miss her. She is such a silly person and is always up for a good laugh. She makes our days fun! She is so Christlike too! I have learned a lot from her about being bold and opening our mouth, even if it is awkward. She is a great missionary...I just wish she believed that about herself.

The past 2.5 weeks have has gotten up on time, worked out, and started studies on time (plus or minus a few minutes here and there, but still). She is teaching more, studying more, and doing more! I am so pleased with her progress. As we were driving to a meeting on Monday, she said "I hope my next companion is like you. I really like how you make things fun." I reminded her that she always says how much I am like her mother, and she does not often talk highly of her mother (because her mother is a mother and tells her what to do). She said "Yes, but I think that because of you, I will understand my mother more, and when I see her again I can love her more. I think she will remind me of you." This made me happy to know I have made such a difference in her life. Each week we write down the things we like, love, and have learned from each other. The past few weeks she has written down that she feels we are literal sisters and best friends.
Awwww! That makes all the hard times with it! She is a sweetheart and I will miss her.

All is well here! Things are progressing! I am loving my time here, though it is sadly, and scarily, dwindling. I will miss my mission.  Each week I get a little bit more anxious as I realize how quickly time is flying. I am trying to savor each moment. It will soon be a dream. But now, I am living the dream! :D

Love Always,
Sister Weyandt

*Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men.  Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life. (2 Nephi 31:20)

Week #51, Missionary Work in the Works

This week has been a great week! The weather has finally gotten warmer! This whole week I did not have to wear a jacket at all! We turned on our AC even! Anytime we could be outside, we were! We even did our weekly planning outside in a park and on our balcony! It was heavenly!

This week one of our members, Sister Rita Magdalany, was an example to me of missionary work! This member has NO fear! She invited a lady she had met at the store to come to a church activity she was planning.  And the lady (Pinky) came! She enjoyed herself and asked if we could visit her! YES! We were thrilled that she jumped to the question before we could.

We went to go visit her on Monday, and we asked Sister Magdalany to join us. Sadly, Pinky "juked" us (was not there/did not answer). So,we went to another potential investigators home just a stone throw away (Rose). She also did not answer. We began driving again when Sister Magdalany suggested we go get a treat at a place called Rita's. So, we pulled up and found a cute little outdoor patio area and an ordering window (like Timp Freeze in Midway). I was stunned when after she finished ordering, she said to our cashier "Do you know who these ladies are? They are missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They have a message they would like to share with you." Hahaha....I was so taken aback, but pleasantly shocked at her boldness. It was awesome! We gave the girl a card and briefly explained who we were and what we do. She did not seem interested, but thanked us.

We sat down to eat our treat, when a man tapped my shoulder and pointed towards Sister Magdalany's purse, where her money was hating out and about to be carried away with the wind. I alerted her, and she
turned to him and said "thank you young man! That was very nice of you! Do you know who these ladies are? They are missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They have a message they would like to share with you." Again, I was blown away. I started to talk to this man and his teenage son. The father showed no interest, so the son took the card I handed to them with our information on it.

After that encounter Sister Magdalany turned to the lady right in line behind them (the ordering line crossed in front of our table) and said "Excuse me Miss, do you know who these ladies are? They are missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They have a message they would like to share with you."  I was floored again! Sister Magdalany had no inhibitions! She opened up the door for us three times in 5 minutes! She talked with everyone...something I should do, but rarely do. When we praised her for her openness, she said "What's the worst they can say? "No"?

I was so impressed! I felt I should have been the example to her, yet here she was, a woman in her 70's, teaching me how to do missionary work! I loved the kind chastisement I received from the spirit! I can
do much better than I am doing now.

The teenage son (Solomon Johnson) who took our card came up to our table a few minutes after our initial introduction to ask us about the card and our information. We got his Facebook information and talked with him about his faith in God. He said he is not sure where he wants to go to college and that he is asking God for help to make that decision. Wise boy! I got to testify of how I had done the same thing, and was so glad I followed the Spirits prompting to go where I did. We wrapped up our conversation with him, went to his parents table to shake their hands, then left with a new perspective on missionary work :) Oh how I love our sweet Sister Magdalany!

We also had a wonderful experience this week with the Bambfo family. They are African, but not sure where they are from. The Spanish elders had tracted into them and handed them over to us. We dropped by and set up an appointment the father (Charles) to come back to teach his son (Justin). We were unsure if there was a female in the house, so we took the elders in our ward to do a handoff lesson with them. Justin was busy when we went back, so all four of us talked with Charles and another man named Leo about the gospel message outside in the yard. After about 20 minutes, we realized us sisters were not really in the conversation much. Charles's beautiful little four year old girl (Imani) wanted to play with us. So for the next hour we played hide and seek(while still having to stay in sight so we kept the mission rules), hand games, and other simple things to keep her occupied while the elders talked with her father.

After we left, we talked with the elders about the visit. They said Charles was trying to point out doctrine issues and rile them up to a debate just to prove they were like every other religion out there. When the elders ended their discussion with a testimony and a simple "we are not here to convince you, but to teach you what has brought us joy and allow you to ask God if these things are true yourself,"  Charles's whole demeanor changed. The elders said he took the Book of Mormon and our pamphlets! They also said they think Gods hand was in us all being there, because Charles saw the heart of the gospel as he saw us playing with his little girl. They said he would often look over at us all playing and smile. What a beautiful experience we had with them. We are going back this week! :)

What a wonderful week it has been, filled with the Spirit and progression! I am loving it....all of it! Gods hand is in the little tiny details of our lives! We just have to look for it. He is watching over us and guiding us every step of way. Everything we do is a small thing, and by small things are great things brought to pass. I know this is true!

Love Always,
Sister Weyandt

P.S. How can you have a Sister Magdalany missionary moment this week? Be a member missionary and shock others with your boldness! This is my challenge to you!

Week #50, One Year Older and Wiser Too!

So...General Conference was great! It was so simple! And I loved that, because the gospel is simple! It was a great reminder of the small and simple things The Lord asks of us. I was touched by the messages, especially Elder Cooks about family history and temples! I want to get back to that so badly! I will have more freedom with that after my mission :) Oh, I hit my year mark by the way! Woohoo!

Things have been going VERY well this week! Sister Steele has seemed to transform this past week. She is doing most everything that she wasn't before, and she is doing it with a smile on her face and optimism in her personality. I am so grateful for her humility and diligence, forgiveness and love! We have seen success this week in reaching less actives we have never been able to reach before. One family called us up at 7:40 am this week to tell us they wanted to come back to church! We were so excited!

We have also been able to find more potential investigators this week, which has been an answer to prayer! One of the greatest blessings this week though, was to have about five different people reach out to us and ask us for help. They asked us to help them get ready to put their house on the market, help in reaching out to someone they met at the store, help in cheering up a sick companion through homemade cookies, help in healing a wounded heart after an argument with her mother, help in comforting a woman after her husband passed away, etc. It has been an inspiring feeling knowing that these people trust us. They love us and want us to help. They believed in our sincere offer to help that they reached out to us for it, even weeks after we had seen them. That was a beautiful feeling. God is blessing us so much! It has been wonderful to see the changes and transformations in myself, my companion, these people, and of course in the season! I feel at times that a literal "spring" is budding in my very soul!  I feel like I am coming alive and beginning to blossom again. What a great feeling that is!

I hope that your soul is at peace right now yourself. One thing I have learned as a missionary is that everyone has their problems and their hard times...almost consistently. No one is exempt. So, I assume you are struggling right now with one thing or another. Turn to God. Pray.  Love Him and others. Find the desire to do the things you are not currently doing that you should be doing. Let the Spirit teach you. Be humble. Be willing. Do your best and God will do the rest! I testify that is true! I love you!

Love Always,
Sister Weyandt

Week #49, Miracles are afoot!

Can I just say that God is good? Alright, now that I have said that, I can share the events of this week. So, it has been an absolutely terrible week. One of the worst weeks of my life in fact (granted, my life has pretty much been rainbows and unicorns, but still). Remember how I had a bad day or two last week? Well, almost my entire week this week was a step above miserable. I found I was sad each morning as I woke up to an unhappy companion who was reluctantly following me throughout the day. I was quiet. So was she. We would find moments with those we visited with where we could brighten up a bit and be closer to normal, but still clearly out of touch with our real selves. We were kind to each other still, but extremely quiet and reserved..as if we were strangers forced to work together.  We were both in a funk and I was unsure how to get out of it.

My companion noticed my sadness and withdrawal, so she started to wake up, work out, and be more prompt to please me. I noticed this and was grateful for it, but it still did not seem to make a difference to my heart. I wondered why. So did she. We were able to talk briefly discussing our feelings, but it was just a patch on our wounded companionship.

By Saturday, things had gotten better. I was extremely grateful for that, especially since it was our day to go to the temple with four of our ward members who were receiving their endowments! Paul, Pat, Caveen, and Rudy were all there to make covenants with their Heavenly Father! Brother Wagner was there for the first time in 15 years! My heart was so touched to see them experience this beautiful day in the house of The Lord!

I was honored to be able to join them in the Manhattan temple! We were eager to accept the invite, and woke up at 3:50 am to be ready to leave for NYC at 5. Tears filled my eyes as we passed through New Jersey over the George Washington bridge onto the island of Manhattan. I was home! I was back! I squealed with glee when I saw the Freedom Tower lit up at the base of the island! What a wonderful place I serve in! I can't believe I am actually here at times!  Needless to say, it was a priceless and unforgettable experience!

But Satan knew we were on a spiritual high and was ready to bring us back down. Sadly, he succeeded....briefly. The day before we had completed most of our weekly planning, but had not yet done our companionship inventory. I think Sister Steele thought I would forget about it, so when we found we had extra time in our schedule and I suggested we do it then, her attitude took a 180. As I read through the things we were to discuss, her answers were sighs of frustration and apathy. Wanting to keep the peace, I moved on to the next sentence. She refused to participate and began to put herself and her abilities down. My last fuze of patience blew. In frustration I told her much of the things that have been running through my mind that
week. Clearly she was surprised by the tone of my voice and my "no mincing of words." I declared in frustration that she was doing things to please me, instead of doing it because she had covenanted with The Lord to do so. She stormed off to the bathroom and locked herself away for an hour or so. I had a lot of time to think about what I had said.  I didn't regret any of it...I just regret the tone that I used to say it.

The General Women's Conference was that night. We sat in separate pews as we took in the loving chastisement from our beloved leaders. The message was to love, to get along, and to see each other for our
similarities and not our differences. We were humbled. At home we said a prayer together. I prayed for both of our hardened and hurt hearts to be healed. I asked her for forgiveness and a hug. She eagerly gave them both with a smile. Both of our hearts had been touched by the prayerful message given at this conference! God took control of our situation and made everything work out perfectly.

Later I found out my companion had messaged our mission president and asked for his help.  Apparently what was said in our discussion was what she needed to hear, despite her wanting to hear it. He called her up the next morning, and since then a happy change has occurred. She has been trying so hard to do everything that is required of her! I have been very impressed with her desire and humility and forgiveness
of me. We are working together now better than we ever have before! Her whole attitude has changed. It is a MIRACLE! Whew...how could so much happen to us in just a few hours?

The last few days have been wonderful! We were able to help two of our members out by helping them clean up their yard and patio in preparation to hopefully sell their house. Haha...doing yard work in skirts is always an adventure :)

Just a few minutes ago I got a phone call from my favorite potential investigator, Rose. She said that her brother in law passed away, and she was wondering if we could come and comfort her sister tomorrow before the funeral! I was so touched she reached out to us! She continued to tell us we were her earthly angels and how she always told everyone about how nice we are. One of her sisters was the one who suggested she call us up to see if we could help. I was so grateful she trusts us enough to reach out to us in her time of need!  The Lord has blessed us with the opportunity to be in her life, and I hope we can continue to be the angels she needs through this hard time!

My testimony has been my anchor this week. My Savior has been there every step of the way. I knew it! I could feel the Spirit's influence powerfully this week, especially on my down days. The Lord gave me the comfort I needed exactly when I needed it. I was alone, but I never felt alone. The Lord is my rock. He is my guide. He is my shepherd who lovingly leads me. I am so grateful for a "bad week," because it gave me the opportunity to have a firmer conviction that he is ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS there! My MTC Zone Leader sent me this scripture today. I love it's message:   (2 Corinthians 12:8-10)

8 For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.

9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.

God is good, isn't he? :D Don't forget that! I hope you have a wonderful week! But whether it be a good week or a bad week, make sure

Love Always,
Sister Weyandt


it is a week where you include The Lord!