April 21, 2014
Dearest Family & Friends,
I'm pretty sure that was the mission
home address. We are technically "supposed" to send mail through
there but it takes longer to get where we are. Thank you for my package!!!!! It
was delightsome to open it and see (I'm thinking it was Allisina's) creative
collage beaming out at me. I played that ball-popping game with Sister Zebley,
one of our Sister Training Leaders who was my companion for a day during
exchanges, and it got pretty intense to the point of one of our neighbors
getting annoyed (ahem, whoops). But she never knew it was us, so...Thanks for
the GPS! I still have to program it but it works here! Yay! Thank you for every
other content you sent me including the basket and CD's and cool toothpick
things :) Yesterday for Easter, Sister Anderson hid all of my eggs (she stole
my idea dang it) and I still haven't found 3 of them :) I am so grateful for
her. I hope that I can show her and my new companion my gratitude by following
their examples of simple acts of service.
Yay Cathy!!! I am so happy for her
and her willingness to share what she knows to be true! I am so thankful for
the strong Spirits that make up our family and that through the Savior, we can
all bring our fellow brothers and sisters back to the fold of God and be
together in the eternities! Such a miraculous thing :) I'm reminded of a quote
from Stake Conference: "Preach the gospel, and occasionally open your
mouth." What we do speaks much louder than what we say. But it is what we
do that encourages people to soften their hearts and ask questions that will
grant us the opportunity to open our mouths.
Rosa got baptized!!! Cute Elder
Schvaneveldt baptized her and, since he's leaving this transfer :'( Elder Hubert
is going to confirm next week.
Stake conference yesterday was
phenomenal! (It was 80 degrees btw) During the Saturday session, they asked all
the missionaries in the congregation to stand and sing "Called to
Serve" and then the rest of the congregation stood and sang the last verse
with us :') That night, the Stake Prez asked selective youth to share
missionary experiences with everyone. It is amazing to see the stamina and
courageous strength of the youth in the church; at that age, there was no way that
so many of our youth could stand and bear such prolific testimonies of
missionary work. Children have to be taught younger and younger the standards
and commandments of the gospel because Satan is targeting them younger and
younger.
So...EVERYONE knew where they were
going and who their companion was yesterday except me. I was excited to hear
Elder Wise (my twin's companion) is replacing Elder Schvaneveldt, he is
hilarious. Sister Anderson is getting transferred to Brookfield!!!! I will
still get to see her every Monday at sports and Tuesday's during District
Meeting!! Woohooo!!!! I just found out my new companion is Sister Silcox who I
don't know, but I think she came out with Sister Anderson. At least I don't
have to train! knock on wood. But it's going to be weird being the leading
sister of Waukesha...still gotta learn where I'm going and who everyone is :)
This week's exchange was an inspired
and blessed one! Sister Zebley helped me push myself to extend bold invitations
without relying too much upon what my companion would say first. I am grateful
for the opportunity I had to lead out discussions and found that the Spirit
also encouraged me to bear testimony more strongly in precedence to these bold
invitations. The Spirit was so strong when we committed Derek to be baptized.
It was only our second meeting with him (Sister Zebley's first) and we read
many scriptures out of the Book of Mormon that related to his views on things
and just the fact that the scriptures confirmed what he already believed was
further testimony to him of the truth of the restored gospel. He said that it
makes a lot of sense to him and even feels like he can relate to Joseph Smith,
trying to discern truth and know which church he should be baptized into. I was
so happy when he accepted the commitment to work towards baptism and so far,
Sister Zebley and Sister Hurst have met with him and are continuing to meet
with him in hopes to acclimate him to the YSA Branch.
We met with Willy by himself at the
library because Sister Loutensock and Nikki couldn't make it, but I found that
teaching him separately allowed us to focus more on HIS needs rather than Nikki
and his needs combined in one. Last time we met with all of them he was rather
quiet, but one-on-one we found that he was more comfortable asking his own
questions. He had never before inquired of the Lord for anything and we
committed him to pray with real intent and we read more from the Book of Mormon
with him on this matter.
Elaine is the cousin of Janice, a
less-active, who lives in Chicago but was visiting and interested in the gospel
when we were prompted to contact her on the street. She read with us from the
Book of Mormon and we told her we would contact the missionaries in the Chicago
area to come teach her.
Upon meeting with Dee, she sort of
dropped us, because she didn't want to start the cycle of getting to know
missionaries and then having them cycle out again. But, we were able to meet
with her again and show her the "Because of Him" video and discussed
some key aspects of the gospel that she and her friend Deb had regarding their
perceptions of Mormons. It was a very successful visit and I hope that we will
be able to continue building upon a gospel-related foundation with her instead
of a purely friend-based one.
We committed Lamar to a baptismal
date! He has gone to church once and loved the Priesthood Session, saying he
felt a lot of peace (since he struggles with ADD and bi-polar disorder). We
taught him and his live-in girlfriend Annie (who has some special needs
herself) the GOJC and read with them from the Book of Mormon and cleared up
some questions Annie had about Joseph Smith. I hope that Lamar is fully
committed to keep learning and keeping appointments with us and that Annie will
keep sitting in with appointments, too.
You all are MY light in a dark and
dreary world. Stay positive and remember that the Lord qualifies who He calls:
if we have a desire to serve Him, then we are ALL called to the Work.
-Sister Weaver-
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| Sister Gonsalves and Sister Weaver Sister Anderson's new companion and a awesome mish! |
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| Sister Weaver & Sister Reed Ashley Alvarez look-alike who Sister Anderson is replacing. |
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| Elder Wisombe, Elder Kimzee, Elder Hubert, Elder Schvaneveldt, Sister Anderson and Sister Weaver |
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| Just cheezin' it up. Final district meeting. We all cried during testimonies. |
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