Review special musical number by Austin and Allison Weaver followed by a talk by Ashely Weaver.
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| Saying Hello and Goodbye to President & Sister Cutler |
Thursday, August 13, 2015
Homecoming - Sunday, August 9, 2015
Review special musical number by Austin and Allison Weaver followed by a talk by Ashely Weaver.
Monday, July 27, 2015
The Time Is Far Spent, There Is Little Remaining!
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| The 3 Amigos! Sister Woods, Osmond, & Weaver |
Dear Family & Friends,
What time are you flying in?
President Cutler said you can arrive at 1:30 when I arrive at the mission home
on Wednesday and I can pal around with you all to Waukesha before dinner at
6:30. Sadly, you won't be able to join the 20+ missionaries going home for
dinner, but you can be back by 7:30 for testimony meeting all the missionaries
will be participating in. What do you think? You can hash out the details via
text with President Cutler, or I can just have a member call you...
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| "So, you Shawano hear the gospel? |
Yeah I was pretty stressed out during
final interviews about marriage and all that jazz, but President gave me some
great counsel about that and future job opportunities and education. I also
asked for a blessing from him, so all is well :) Just so you know, I am
expected to keep the mission rules the whole time until I get home...SO no TV,
worldly music, swimming, have to be within sight and sound of my companion
(which won't be too much of a problem Mommy :), morning studies, etc. Just to
prep ya!
Also...RIDICULOUS miracles happening
this transfer: ALL my companions left in the field are training and 22 new
missionaries, their eyes and spirits brightly shining, and entering the
mission. I get to ride down with Sister Woods and Sister Osmond to Milwaukee
because they are both training!! And I know they will do so epically!!
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| Studies this morning. |
So...I may shed a tear or two, but
you may already know that upon seeing your wonderful (and possibly tanner)
faces as well. I perfectly understand sissy's position upon seeing me, for as
EVERYONE knows, I know how debilitating stress can be.
In response to the musical number
inquiry, how about "Homeward Bound?" Bro would love that too!!
This past year and a half has been so
rewarding! This week has too! Latoya came to church and is continuing to
progress, although she needs her baptismal date reset. We were FINALLY able to
meet with Rachel Corrales! She was very thankful for our visit, hopefully the
sisters can continue to see her on a regular basis. We met with Coley at Sister
Allred's and it was very powerful to hear Sister and Brother Allred bear their
testimony. I know it helped Coley strengthen hers. Shay wants to come with the
sisters after showing her the "How Great Shall Be Your Joy" DVD and
Roben our less active brought her landlady and friend with her to our lesson
out of the blue! She wants to learn more :)
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| Nice lady who bought us sodas at Culver's. |
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| Our District |
So many members are benefiting from
the DVD and working with people! It will be great to follow up on all those
people that have come to their minds. It has been great encouraging them!
Thanks for the quote, that is the one
that has been hanging on my wall the last 18 months!! (But really, it has...)
See you later! (...But not too
much!!!)
Love you more than I love that I will
see you soon (still pretty close!)
-Sister Weaver-
P.S. Yes, I still have the GPS you
all gave me.
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| Sister Thurston...an EPIC RM in the Ward :) |
Monday, July 20, 2015
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| Mad 4 District Meeting |
Dear Family & Friends,
WOW. That's a lot of love, dear
mother Haha yeah I was the STL of Sister Cook who was two months older than
me...WHAT NOW! And I think there's someone else, but I don't remember their name.
We had interviews with Prez and it
turns out...WE ARE STILL TOGETHER FOR THE NEXT WEEK AND A 1/2!!! You know what
that means...CAR STILL!!!!! Which has been great because the weather has been
100 degrees plus humidity the past couple days. Luckily today was better, but
the Lord is so merciful!
Yay Brittany! I'm glad you saw her and can't wait to catch
up with her! I just scheduled with President to have my departing
interview on Sunday to discuss goals and I just KNOW that will talk to me about
my plans for marriage...I should probably start making some in that department.
Ugh. I just want to finish my mission focused! I'll also be speaking with the
other two trio-mates in sacrament meeting so at least I'll have that focus
:) YAY! Nothing like 2 talks to prepare for! It will be EPIC! Speaking of
Epic, we totally have to visit Epic when you come...It's a place that EVERYONE
in the ward and their brother works at and to be honest, I don't really know
the point of it, but it is a geek's paradise! I would know...Each building has
a theme like Indiana Jones or Star Wars and they have this huge slide people
take to get to their meetings. It is tight! One of the Part member families in
Mad 4 Ward took us on a tour of just a tiny corner of one of the buildings. Being
me, I wanted to see the Lord of the Rings building and lo and behold, what do
my wondering eyes should appear but...
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| One of the theaters at Epic... it was modeled after the conference center in SLC!!! |
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| I met Gollum and offered him discussions... he wan't interested. |
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| At Epic...I've decided to continue my schooling at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry... |
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| Dr. Who Police Call Box |
Sadly, Lun Cheng sort of dropped us
:( He is just getting frustrated and needs some time. He also doesn't like how
our church claims to be the only true one. We think he might have been reading
some anti.
Sunday was a day I will never forget!
I knew it always gets darkest before the dawn, but I didn't know how bright the
dawn could be! After visiting the Keyes family (whose father is not a member
and the Gabriel the mother and her 5 boys are less active), she came to
church!! She followed us because she wasn't sure where it was and sadly her
husband couldn't go this time, but it was such a wonderful experience to see
them stay for all three meetings. She knew Ishmael already, so it was so cool
to see him be that good example and bless the sacrament. Sister Thurston
fellowshipped her for the rest of church and the boys went to primary. We are meeting
with the whole family later this week for a lesson!
It was funny, we didn't schedule
lunch, because we just had too much stuff we needed to get done and we were
like: THE LORD WILL PROVIDE! And lo and behold he did after sacrament Sister
Feriante gave us a giant bowl of Welsh cakes and some other members fed us
pizza...all unaware of our lack of lunch. The Lord truly does watch over His
missionaries!
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| English Custard at Sister Feriante's! |
Tim finally came to church as well!!
Debra Hawkes and her family, Coley, Latoya, and Sarah also came! It was
exciting to see so many people embrace the gospel and partake of the sacrament!
After showing this cool DVD of
converts-turned-missionaries that the ZL's wanted us to show to members to a
couple families in the ward, it was amazing to see how many names and
revelation about missionary work came to their minds. I love the impact it is
making on members. We've been thinking of bringing up our ward doing a
"Visitor Sunday" like the 4th ward.
Also, I am worried about how best to
help Sister Woods transition into buses, seeing as we have been so busy using a
car and I think she is worried about it too. We were thinking of doing a dry
run of all of the main places, but were wondering if you had any other advice?
Thanks for everything and always
having confidence in me performing my duty of fulfilling what the Lord needs me
to do, especially when my confidence seems to lack. I love you all more than I
love geeking out over Doctor Who!
-Sister Weaver-
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| We didn't have cucumbers. |
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| This is a cleansing mask, not my skin. But I knew you would get a kick out of it, Mom. It was like peeling glue only better! |
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| Eating a goose claw at a cool Chinese family's house in Mad 4. I think the webbing between the toes was the best part :) It got stuck in my teeth so it was quite sufficient using the talons for toothpicks. |
Monday, July 13, 2015
SO MANY MIRACLES!
July 13, 2015
HELLO My Hard-Working Amigos &
Friends,
Brittany??? Pahaha Sure didn't waste
any time. They will have epically cute children :) Can't wait to see her again!
And I totally cannot wait to see all y'all and the beautiful campus of BYU-I
once more: for it was the best of times, it was the worst of times :) Thank you
for that quote, too...It is precisely what we all need! I wish I could print
it...
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|
Trying to be a cellist…also!
My last Zone Training Meeting :(
We decided the night before to
do a musical number with the Cello...
I think
it turned out pretty well.
We just went for it :D |
SO MANY MIRACLES! New ways of finding
are popping up all over and so many people are willing to listen! We are going
to try harder on following up this week, but guess what we discovered...??
Cello Contacting!!! Sister Woods has special permission to rent a cello on her
mission and we found so many people we would have NOT found without it. We
naturally went to the park and let her do her thing while Sister O and I talked
to people who came up to us. We met a CELLO MAJOR, who played us a song, and a
non-Christian who, because she loved the music, had her heart soften up enough
to pray with us. Then we saw a man sitting by himself listening to the cello
music at another park, so I went over and asked how he was doing, he said he'd
been better. It turned out he was living in his car and the night before he had
a dream about music playing so he felt he should stay and listen while he
figured out what to do. We invited him over and taught the Restoration and
invited him to church. He even sang with us ha-ha.
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| "Next time on 'The Trio'..." |
We took Sister O contacting on the buses,
which she really wanted to do and she did very well! Even when a crazy local
Catholic black guy who was trying to force his gay-rights agenda on us verbally
harassed her, we stayed pretty cool until he followed us off the bus and
started lacing profanities about how men don't treat women right and how we
should find men to treat us right and then I averted my gaze and was like
"Yeah okay you have a good day sir." He left before I called Sister
Thurston to come and save us and we ran for Walgreens...YAY South Transfer
Point! I have to write Sister King about THAT one ha-ha, it was my fault for
getting on the wrong bus, but in essence I think it was the right one. I sat by
a girl who was Buddhist or something who actually was moving to Portland and
after the coo-coo man started embarrassing himself, she said: "You know,
people have very negative perceptions about Mormons, but after seeing who you
really are today, mine has changed for sure." So, if anything, at least we
could be examples of Christ for those silent and uncomfortable observers on the
bus rather than the annoying hard-hearts who we are trying to bear testimony to
:)
Don't worry...the Lord protects His
missionaries :) That I have for SURE gained a testimony of on buses. But the
car has been epic, not going to lie. I am sad to see it go within the next
couple of days, but together our trio has taught 85 lessons to newbie’s this
week and handed out 21 BOM's! Our District Leader was like "How??" We
just said we don't know but we may need to be hospitalized once the transfer
ends :) I actually had a dream recently that when you came to get me I was in a
wheelchair because my body was so tired, so don't be surprised if it comes true
ha-ha. The Lord does His work. We can't afford to let anyone pass by.
Latoya is doing very well! Some
concern came from her fellow-shipper who had fellowshipped her when the sisters
worked with her in the past, about her taking advantage of the missionaries and
not being too genuine, but after class on Sunday, she said that her discussion
was more genuine than she had ever seen in her before. We hope to reset her
baptismal date for August 1 so we can teach her all the lessons before she
moves.
Lun Cheng, Latoya, Nichole and a
woman we met (stopped jogging actually) Saturday night named Clara all came to
church in Sunday! It was a very powerful meeting as the Bishop talked about the
importance of the Sacrament. She said she enjoyed it very much and wants to get
back in touch with us after her trip. Lun Cheng is still having issues
believing the church is Christ's only church in its fullness, so we committed
him to read from the New Testament as well.
Sadly, Emily, a slowly returning less
active, lost her baby, so a lot of hardship concerning her faith in God is
being monumentally tested again. This is her 5th miscarriage and she does not
want missionary visits for a while. We are struggling as to how we can help
her, but will try to keep in touch from a distance.
Another less active Deserae invited
us over for dinner and accepted member lessons!
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| What A Week! |
The Lord was merciful to me this week
in more ways than I could have dreamed. We went to a game night at the 4th ward
and I was EXHAUSTED. After we finished giving a church tour to some guests
there, I suddenly felt my energy re-vitalize as I ran into 3 young men from the
Sun Prairie Ward!!! Then Brother Davis and Brother Allen who helped fellowship
Eric greeted me. They were all on an YM retreat, but I was so happy to catch-up
with people and ask how the ward was. Their smiles and friendly greetings were
like the Lord was saying: "You're doing great Sister Weaver! Keep going
and making a difference in these people's lives!"
Thanks for all the updates and I love
you all more than I love having a car!!!
-Sister Weaver-
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|
Me saying adios to Sister Kunz! I was her STL in Wausau!
|
Tuesday, July 7, 2015
We Say Goodbye to Another Dear Apostle
July 6, 2015
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| Happy Fourth! We spent it mainly in the Mad 4 area. |
Dear Momma, Dadda, and the Rest of
All You Familyness of Life!
Thanks for the article. Bishop read
it to us (in both wards) and it is so cool how whenever there is a major law
passed by civil government, the saints immediately turn to the prophet:
"What do we do?" It shows great faith.
Yay Donna and Tom! Please give them
my best! Crazy about Ashley Alvarez it was like JUST yesterday we were spotting
each other at the MTC!
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| Sisters Weaver, Osmond, Woods |
The Lord does answer prayers. Sister
Woods and I have been praying to stay diligent in this the last stretch of our
missions and lo and behold, right after emails last week, President Cutler
informed us of a situation where Sister Osmond (yes, Donny Osmond's niece ha-ha)
had to send home her trainee, so we are in a trio for a couple of weeks taking
over her area and ours in a trio! (Hence the pic :) We have become EXTREMELY
busy with blessings and miracles pouring out upon us and those we teach left
and right. Sister Osmond is a VERY hard worker, and has been a blessing to us
and those we teach. My arms and legs burn with numbness from the constant work,
but the miracles are overflowing. Today for example, a lady stopped us at
Walmart: "STOP! Just stop!" We thought she was a crazy JW, but then
she said her daughter just converted to Mormonism and gave us all a big hug.
She started to tear up as she said that she is a hard core Roman Catholic, but
her daughter is about to marry this amazing Mormon boy and gave him a call and
took her pic with us to send to her daughter. It was very cute. She reminded me
of you, Mom, a bit.
On the 4th of July, we contacted SO
many people...I think we have about 35 lessons this week in EACH area and
passed out about 25 Book of Mormons total. It is so cool to meet such prepared
people. Talking to people has never been my strong suit, but SIster Osmond is
RELENTLESS. It's amazing!
We also met a cute Chinese family who wanted to take
their pic with us too ha-ha. A woman parked in front of our church after the
pancake social and was crying in her car, so we went up to her and shared a
message from the Book of Mormon. I told her to read it while we went inside and
got her some food. We came out with SIster Carlson from the ward and she bore
strong testimony inviting her to sit with her at church. The woman was going
through a lot of family things and Bishop said they have been helping them in
the past. It was really cool.
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| The fun Chinese Family, "You are so nice!" |
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| A member had this painting of the Seattle Temple because they grew up there. I thought it was cool! |
Latoya, a former who recently contact
us to learn once more, is progressing very well. She has come to church every
week and Sister Nicole Dimond has been giving her rides and coming to lessons.
She wants to be baptized before she moves in August, so we are on our toes
trying to teach her all of the lessons again.
Debra met with us and we talked about
scripture reading. She wants a blessing for her and Jaden, so she will contact
her Home Teacher soon. It's nice to be on good terms with her again.
We met with Lun Cheng at the
Delorey's and were able to answer more of his questions regarding the Law of
Chastity and the concept of eternal life. The Delorey's talked with him long
after we left and said they reviewed the Restoration when he asked about it so
we will follow up with him on the next lesson about it.
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| Sister Cox, She just moved to Mad 4 from Wausau with her husband (the weatherman) and we got to see them on the fourth!!! She kept texting... is Sister Weaver really with you? When are you coming over?? I felt so loved...And they are expecting a baby!!! BAH!!! |
We were so privileged to meet many
people in the Madison 4th Ward area and have high hopes for their
part-member family investigator Brother Brown, who has committed to pray to
know if the Book of Mormon is true. We found so many potential families as
well. People are very open and eager to read and learn if we are open and eager
to share.
Thanks for all you do! Keep up the
great work on your side of the country and I'll continue to do it on mine!
Love you all!
-Sister Weaver-
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| We did nails at the nursing home in Mad 4. |
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| We went on exchanges (my last one!) It was so weird with a trio, so they just spent the night...5 sisters and one bathroom...one can only imagine ha-ha. |
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| WE HAVE A CAR!!! (Awkward I'm hugging it since it belonged to the Sun Prairie Elders before...) |
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| Milked cows! (Mission Bucket-List, CHECK) |
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| The farm we went to had a fox. A Fox!!! What does the fox really say? He didn't say much, but had SHARP claws. I won't tell you how I found that out. |
Tuesday, June 30, 2015
Happy 4th Of July!!!
June 29, 2015
Dear Family & Friends,
Good to hear you all are so pumped
for missionary work! That's cool about the Remington's! For sure I will! I have
covenanted to be an EPIC member-missionary (not to mention give rides to the
poor car-less missionaries... yay empathy)! For it is the members that are the GLUE of missionary
work and the role-play sounds great! To be honest, Mother, after 18 months I
STILL I have no idea how to approach people without getting tongue-tied and
awkward. But we missionaries are weird anyway; people EXPECT you to talk to
them..., which makes it all the more daunting.
We are pretty booked for Saturday,
there is a ward breakfast and then a baptism for one of the Spanish Elder's
investigators, where we want to bring Lun Cheng to...even though it will be in
Spanish--awkward--but at least he can see the ordinance being done. And we are
meeting with a recent convert, so I think all will be pretty filled and we
won't be yelled at for disturbing anybody's 4th. One of my companions had
someone yell at her as they tracted last year on the 4th and said "GO HOME
TO YOUR FAMILY!!" And she's like "I CAN'T!" Sad day.
I was just telling Uncle Brad that
the day dawn is fast approaching and the work still needs to press forward :) I
never want to leave this harvest of souls, but alas there is a time and a
season and the sun is soon setting upon the time allotted to me. "Yea, for
this cause I have sent you hither, and have selected my servant [Ashley
Weaver], and have appointed unto [her] [her] mission in this
land...Behold [her] mission is given unto [her], and it shall not be given
again" (D&C 58: 14,16). I read this today, and don't mean to
change the scriptures, but the Spirit did for me :)
Yes. Tim our eternigator brought the
gay marriage thing to our attention on Saturday. He has a daughter who
struggles with same-sex attraction, but I can tell that he agrees with the
church's status. He is very wise and mature when it comes to faith in our
sustained leaders...which makes it all the more frustrating he won't get in the
water! Anywho :) There are, I don't doubt, many in our ward, or
the church for that matter who disagree with the stance, but we as
Mormons just have such a problem with looking at the eternal perspective. I'm
sorry, but it's true :) We discussed this with Lun Cheng when he brought up his
concerns: God's purpose is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of
man. He wants to give us all He has. Our role in helping Him accomplish this is
by providing bodies for His children and the way that happens is through a man
and a woman. Not only that, but marriage in the world is SOOO different from
marriage to God. It is a relationship that extends far greater than a physical
attraction...it is a bond with GOD that enables us with the power to bring to
pass HIS eternal purposes...not our own. Sadly the world has lost sight of that
or cannot comprehend it for that matter, thus confusion arises.
I truly feel for those who do
struggle with same-sex attraction. It is their trial in life. No doubt it
is a struggle for those who do have that attraction--who KNOW
and ACCEPT the gospel--to see their role in God's plan. Like
some do who can't have children, or those infants who die without
having kids. God blesses them for their faithfulness on earth, which tries
their best to live as God has commanded, until further light and knowledge is
added unto them. As Alma said: "Behold these mysteries are not fully made
known unto me, therefore I shall forbear."
So we must walk by the faith we have
with the knowledge given unto us, until all that we have done in righteousness'
name will be compensated unto us in the eternities because of the
matchless gift of our Savior, Jesus Christ.
"Behold, the laws which ye have
received from my hand are the laws of the church, and in this light ye shall hold
them forth. Behold, here is wisdom" (D&C 58:23). (There just was a lot
of good stuff in D&C 58 today!)
But I digress...Lun Cheng came to all
three hours! The Delorey's were so great in helping to answer his questions in
our lesson afterward. We discussed baptism and he said he couldn’t be baptized
until he understands the reasoning behind all the commandments...Word of Wisdom
and marriage between a man and a woman specifically. The core doctrine that is
helping his testimony to grow the most is our Father's eternal purposes for his
children...His goal for HIM individually. The Delorey's invited him over to
their home for our next lesson :) He likes them a lot.
Debra, a recent
convert likes us again! (After chewing us out a week a go because our
phone got shut off via text: "I'm being done with you young high-school
kids who are immature and don't know how to teach" or something like that.
Now, as you know I am not one to have attitude when it comes to business,
but I replied with a "We are sorry Deb, know that we still love
you and want to meet...P.S. and we are out of college, not high school...)
I think she probably may be bipolar? But face-to-face she wanted to
set up a meeting with US this time. I hope she knows that we do love her and want
to help her succeed. She came for all three hours with Jaden and Jada and
participated in the lessons. The Delorey's have been so great in fellowshipping
her as well.
Exchanges went great and we finally
found an investigator! YAY! Her name is Gigi who graciously accepted a Book of
Mormon and wants us to come back next week to learn more.
Julia is back in town briefly, but
will be meeting with her tomorrow to re-set her baptismal date. We are
continuing to encourage Tim and Nicole (Coley) to do missionary work for their
families to help their hearts soften to their joining the church. Tim is
studying PMG more and we are hoping to get Coley excited about her own
testimony and be true to it, putting her own fears to rest about baptism.
Love you all and continue in the
faith, my dear family, for all will be well eventually...Through the ups and
the downs and the stress and the ridiculousness there is Christ...we just have
to trust He is there and reach out for Him.
Giving you a hug across time and
space (or just the country)!
-Sister Weaver-
P.S. Did you discuss in ward council the new set-up for
sacrament meeting? Cool, huh?
Tuesday, June 23, 2015
How Was I Ever Blessed With Such Goodly Parents?
June 22, 2015
 |
| Fare thee well, Sister Scholosser! |
I like what it says in one of the
2009 Ensigns: Trusting
in the Assurances of the Lord, by Mindy Anne Leavitt.
I think every missionary needs to
hear that quote from Gordon B. Hinckley's dad at one point or another in their
missions. Now is the time when I need to hear it. Sure, I've thought about it
from time to time, but never truly needed it until my last time amidst the
harvest of souls. I am thankful for it.
Luckily, I've been able to eat much
more this week--YAY! And bulk up on protein. Luckily I am adjusting to this
transfer better than I thought I would :) I don't know how, but it's
happening and it has been helping my anxiety lessen. I think I've reached the
point where the busier I am, the less I stress...which has been true my ENTIRE
mission! You just don't have time to think about things you shouldn't be
thinking about, which is great! Much more incentive to work harder! Plus the
members have been so gracious offering us rides. We got stranded at the South
Transfer Point (the SKETCHIEST of all transfer-points) on our way to a dinner
appointment so we called her and said we would try to get there, but then the
bus broke down and she, in her cute little Asian voice said, "It's okay! I
come save you!" Asking for help would be the LAST thing Sister Schlosser
would do, but I frankly have no shame in that department :)
 |
| Welcome Sister Woods! My new companion. |
Nichole Kazda, our investigator of a
couple years, is having many missionary experiences with her family and a close
friend. She is defending the church and this has been a prime opportunity to
point out to her that she does indeed have a testimony! Although she struggles
with some parts of her testimony of the gospel, we are encouraging her to be
true to the faith she DOES have.
Lun Cheng is having trouble coming to
sacrament meeting. He loves coming to Gospel Principles, but feels that
Sacrament Meeting doesn't speak to him in the same way. We plan to re-emphasize
the importance of Sacrament Meeting this week and Brother and Sister Delorey
volunteered to come to his lesson this Wednesday to help out. He admires
Brother Delorey as a teacher very much.
Sarah Panzenhagen came to church! We
had a miraculous lesson with her gearing towards picking a date for her to be
baptized. She expressed her concern and fear when the sisters tried to set
dates with her in the past, but the Spirit prompted us to invite her to take
initiative and pray for a date. We will be praying for one as well. Baptism is
obviously something she wants and her mom is finally starting to see how the
gospel is blessing her life.
Shay came to church and met with the
bishop finally! We encouraged her to do so after she expressed her fear of
breaking up with her fiancé and finding a new place to live. She has seen what
living the gospel, coming to church, and reading the Book of Mormon are doing
to help give her the guidance of the Spirit in her life and we will help her
continue to see the good that God is doing for her.
 |
|
Sister West
from our ward had her baby right before our dinner appointment was supposed to happen. She was like... "I'm in labor, but I feel so bad for having to cancel... what should I do?" We were like "Uhh...CANCEL and have your baby!" We gave her baby this as a gift. |
Hakuna Matata!
-Sister Weaver-
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