November 9th, 2015

Good Morning!!

To answer your question pops it actually hasn't been getting too cold over here. At the beginning of this week it hit the 70s!!!!!! I couldn't believe it. Everyone in the ward feels a little sheepish because they all have been telling me about how horrible the winters are here after I tell them how much I love winter. We were in short sleeves and short skits Monday & Tuesday, but by the end of the week we had our first frost soooo Winter is coming!

This past week was a lot of work. We have been having problems with a couple of our investigators. I think last week I told you a bit about Mario and how he wasn't interested in learning? Well for some reason we now see him everywhere and our last encounter was horribly awkward.  He came right up to be and said, "Sister V, I will join the church if you marry me."  You can imagine my surprised reaction!  I had no idea what to say so I just started laughing.  I think I hurt his feelings a little bit, because he turned really red and walked away.  What do you do in those situations though!?

Another one of our investigators, Kathy, who was excommunicated a while back, announced to us that she has to go to jail for 30 days starting December 1st.  Kathy is my THIRD investigator to be put in jail while I've been teaching them.  Broke my heart.  We are also working with her 8 year old son, Alajuwan, and he was supposed to be baptized Dec 5th, but it looks like we will be changing that date because the mother definitely needs to be there.  Kathy is handling the news pretty well considering the fact that she will be missing Alajuwan's birthday, potential baptism, and Christmas. Kathy is really all Alajuwan has so we are pretty concerned with how he will be taken care of. All the family they have around are pretty sketchy and irresponsible so hopefully we can get the church to help them out.  Prayers are needed their way ASAP!

On Tuesday we tag teamed a bunch of less actives with the relief society president. Sometimes I get soooo overwhelmed when I look at the ward and see all the members that need our help. How can I possibly help all these people? I kept asking myself this question all throughout the week, but the answer I kept receiving was the same each time, "One person at a time."

My challenge for you all this week is to go and help the  missionaries! If it's feeding them, going to lessons, giving referrals, giving a ride, ANYTHING and EVERYTHING helps!

Other news this week? Not much, a new really cute missionary moved into our area from Idaho and he's a skier who grew up on Bogus so its been fun to talk about home with him.

Sister Chatman and I also found a pet squirrel! ( see pictures) 

Funny story this week

 

We were out door knocking and sister Chatman looked over at a field and said, "Are those boys??? they look kinda short."  I looked at her and said, "You are sooooo desperate sister, They're like 8 years old! Look at the school!"  We were passing an elementary school and the "boys," little 3rd graders, were running around at lunch break. Hahaha needless to say she was a bit embarrassed and I am refusing to let her live it down.

I have so much love for all of you and really do think about you all the time! Enjoy this season and remember what you are grateful for! 

Sister Viehweg

November 1st, 2015

Happy belated Halloween!!!! It's been a good week out here in Michigan!

Transfer calls were last Friday and it looks like I will be spending another transfer here in Bay City with Sister Chatman as my companion! We are more than excited! She goes home in December so it's looking like I will kill her off, which we are both grateful for because we love each other! Another  transfer together was needed. At the end of October things seemed to be falling apart and we needed an opportunity to set some new goals and standards for ourselves. So hopefully this next transfer will end a little better. It was weird writing December down in our calendars! Where has the year gone!?

At the beginning of the week Mario, the really golden Hispanic investigator, dropped us. We were both pretty bummed about that, but it just wasn't the right time for him. At least we were able to plant some good seeds. A lot of the time people will say to us on door steps, "You are wasting your time" but time is never wasted when you are doing the Lord's work. And when one door closes the Lord always opens another one. That night we got a call from Kalle Martinez. She is 16 years old and has been in and out of lessons with missionaries. She called us to ask if we wanted to play basketball with her and her family on Halloween. Of course we said yes, sister Chatman was beyond excited. Kalle's father was excommunicated and his working on being re-baptized and his girlfriend and their kids are all wanting to take discussions and be baptized as well. All last transfer we were trying to build a relationship with this family and had zero luck. The basketball invite was a total breakthrough!

So Halloween rolls around and we are getting pretty pumped to play. I haven't played basketball since freshman year, so you could say I was feeling a bit rusty. Well a bit rusty was an UNDERSTATEMENT!  We show up to play at Kalle's high school and her and her family are all warming up and look like pros...Here I am with my leggings and Nike Frees looking like a complete idiot while Sister Chatman whips our her BYU gear she was sent and new basketball high tops. I couldn't help but think that this was about to get realllll embarrassing. So they split up the teams and there's a missionary rule where comps have to guard each other so I was guarding Sis Chatman who is 5'11". She was stomping ALLLL over me! And my team was full of Martinez's who were pulling out all these plays and sneaky passes. I literally was running around in circles trying not to get in their way. The game was wayyyyy too fast paced for me and soooo hilarious. I couldn't stop laughing and ran away from the passes thrown at me because the dad was CHUCKING THEM at me! Good times though and we built some pretty good relationships. I swear the things missionaries do for people...We will bend over backwards and humiliate ourselves for people.

Last night I held a tarantula!  For those of you who don't know I am soooo scared of spiders so this was very uncharacteristic of me. The spider belonged to a 22 year old in our ward and he practically forced me into it. The tarantula was huge, soft, fuzzy, named cuddles, I was sweating and crying and screaming, and will never do I again.

Love you all, God is Good, and have a good week!

Sister Viehweg

Investigator Sherry

Tarantual

October 26th, 2015

Hey hey normal civilization, how is everything going??? Sometimes... no all the time, I forget that there is a normal life going on outside of Bay City, Michigan, and then I read everyone's emails and I'm thinking "why aren't they out knocking on doors?" So thanks for bringing me back! Once again it's been a crazy week. Why haven't I gotten it through my head yet that every single day on a mission is crazy? 

This week was great, we lost our car last Wednesday so Sister Chatman and I have been on foot. We clocked out our mileage this time and have been averaging 10 miles per day. Two days ago we decided to do a leg work out, because we are dumb, and I still can't walk normally! Yesterday at church everyone kept coming up and asking us why we were limping..so embarrassing.

Paul is doing really well, he loves being a mormon, it's so cute. And he's now helping all the missionaries out. He takes the sacrament to people with the elders and teaches lessons with us. Dad, I don't think you need to worry about getting him anything, he loves online shopping and I'm sure has already ordered everything a mormon could possibly need, including food storage :)

President interviews were this week and that was a little stressful. President Jacobsen holds so much power and still makes me a little nervous. He used to be a coach so he loves all the athletes out here, lucky me, haha. In case any of you are worried, I passed my first president interview with FLYING colors.

Jessica, our new investigator is doing really well. She loves learning about the gospel and asks all the right questions. Makes me feel like im an awesome missionary...HA-HA...  She has been praying a bit, but still feels nervous about coming to church.  Mario, our new Hispanic investigator, came to church yesterday and was a little overly greeted by our Hispanic members. Holy cow, they really know how to welcome a person. Everyone was speaking Spanish and Sister Chatman and I were just standing there awkwardly looking sooo dumb. I took one semester of Spanish in 7th grade, so the only thing I can remember how to say is "where are my pants?" in Spanish. NOT helpful. After church Mario was like, "I haven't felt that at home since I left Mexico." So it's looking promising for him!

Funny stories this week:

Sister Chatman and I offered to help this less active member out at her animal shelter event on Thursday. First off, I hate animals. I think most people know this about me, but if you don't, I really just dislike them. Also Sister Chatman is terrified of dogs because she got bit by one pretty badly in middle school. So as soon as we walked into the shelter we were overpowered with the stench of animals...shocker.  The member, Sister Grimmer, wanted to give us a tour so we started walking around the shelter (this was my first time at a shelter).  The shelter looked like a prison for dogs. Sooooo mannnnny barking dooooogs! It was so loud we could hardly hear sister Grimmer talking. Once I looked over at Chatman and she looked like she was about to cry!  Hahaha-- too funny!  We ended up having to tie bandannas around the dogs which consisted of me getting locked in the cages with a dog, basically wrestling it, while sister chatman watched from the outside. IT WAS TERRIBLE!! We were there for about 2 hours and were completely covered with hair. The cats were even worse, but I don't have time to tell you about them. Stay tuned for next week!  But know that I will NEVER go in another animal shelter again!

More door knocking bloopers:

We knocked on this door and next thing I know a dog is chasing me down the street. FOR ABOUT 10 MINTUES.....I hate animals...

Okay, love you all!  Sorry this is a bit scatter brained, our time was cut again!! 

Sister Viehweg

October 20th- Baptism!

It is definitely fall/winter here in Michigan. The temperature DROPPED to the 40s and 30s this past week and our heater broke! So we have been doing anything and everything we can to stay warm at  night. Hopefully the maintenance men will be able to fix our heater today.

Alright, this week was awesome! Saturday Paul Juarez Jr. was baptized!!! I still can't believe it all happened. It was such a cool experience. Sister Chatman and I had to go to the church 3 hours early to start filling up the font. Due to the pipes being so old we had to turn the water on for 15 minutes and then off for 20 minutes until it was completely full. I don't know why, I don't ask questions, but it took FOREVER. While we were filling up the font we watched all the new addiction recovery videos that the church just released. Those videos are AMAZING! Everyone needs to watch them. And I'm not just saying that as an overexcited sister missionary. A couple of the videos had sister Chatman and I in tears!

Anyways, the font was filled, everyone showed up who needed to be there, and Paul was just too excited. He kept saying he was about to be "bean dipped" because he's Mexican hahaha. Afterwards I asked him how he felt and his response was "extra white, sister." He's too cute and was completely glowing! The next day he came to church to be confirmed and his smile said it all. THIS CHURCH IS TRUE. Not only have I witnessed the spiritual change in Paul since I met him in July, but also the physical Change. Its amazing what the gospel does to people. I have never seen a more happy 52 year old Mexican. Paul has my heart!

We had another lesson with Sarah Goretski and she pulled out this destroyed quad. It was the first book of Mormon/Bible she had ever received and told us that her husky had torn it apart while her and her husband were on vacation 5 years ago. She told us she just couldn't bring herself to throw it away, so of course sister Chatman and I told her we would repair it. I don't know what we were thinking. The dog had literally torn the quad to shreds and slobbered all over it (this is why you should never have animals). So this week we have been taping a quad back together, with scotch tape #soclassy. I will have to send a picture next week. It looks pretty good, but the amount of tape we have used is ridiculous. 

The rest of the week was sooo busy. Sister Chatman and I set another record of lessons this week. I still don't know how it happened. We would go from lesson to lesson and each time I didn't think it could get any harder to get off a couch, but it did.  I have never felt so tired in all my life. Sometimes I walk out of lessons and think to myself, "what did I even say in there?"  There's no way I am carrying out each day without God's help.

I love this work. Its the hardest thing I have ever done, but also the most rewarding thing I have ever done.

Have a great week!

Door Knocking bloopers:

man: " I got back from overseas in 2008."

Sister V: "welcome back!"

man: no response..shut the door

Sister C: "welcome back? its been 7 years sister..."

Sister Viehweg

Lilly Pond

Paul's baptism

Fall leaves

Sister selfie

October 12th, 2015

This week was crazy to say the least! Its been an emotional roller coaster here in Bay City. I'll start out with Paul Juarez, the investigator that was supposed to be baptized this week.

So last week I explained how Paul was struggling and that Satan was all over him. Well On Wednesday Paul met with us and dropped us. He said he had been offended by a member, that the church was bringing him negative feelings, and that he just needed some time and space. Sister Chatman and I left that meeting heart broken. He decided the best thing would be to just leave him alone for two weeks, no communication no nothing. So we did just that, removed him from our record book and stopped responding to all texts. I don't think I have ever prayed so hard in my life that night, but God truly does answer prayers. That night I woke up to a text from Paul at 2:30 am and it said, "Sisters! I want to be baptized on the 17th! I know this church is true, Satan was corrupting my mind!" I got so excited I didn't sleep the rest of the night! We met with Paul again the next day and I guess the cold shoulder for 16 hours really did the trick, he had experienced a complete change of heart. So Paul Juarez will be getting baptized this Saturday!

It was so cute, yesterday during fast and testimony meeting Paul was the first to go up and bare his testimony. He basically told the whole ward that the sisters are awesome, no big deal, and that he is really excited to get to know everyone and join the church. #proudmishmoment   After Paul, all these converts of 30-40 years started getting up and baring their testimonies to Paul telling him that he will never look back or regret his decision. Best Sacrament meeting I have had thus far.

Sister Chatman and I also found this really awesome less active named Sarah Goretski. She converted her Senior year of high school, married an RM in the temple, and started a family. The Husband ended up being a complete jerk to her and her twin boys so she left him and left the church. Sarah hasn't been active or back to church in 7 years and we are the first missionaries she has answered the phone to and allowed to come into her home since. She is GOLDEN, and has been through so much. Breaks my heart about her husband. Apparently he was very verbally and physically abusive to her. Hopefully she lets us come back!

Funny Story of the week.

So this past Saturday we had Tradeoffs so I had to go to Midland to be with Sister Foster, the STL, Midland doesn't have cars at the moment so we were on bikes. This was my first time biking on my mission. All my pride went right out the window as soon as I strapped my helmet on my head and mounted the too small,extremely rusty bicycle with no brakes. All was going well, I was following sister Foster to our lesson when we crossed a road leading into a parking lot. Sister Foster must have been looking down and out of it because she didn't hear me yell for her to stop. SHE GOT NAILED BY A CAR PULLING INTO THE PARKING LOT! It all happened so fast. The car hit her front tire and flung her like a rag doll on top of the car all over the windshield! I couldn't believe it, and had no brakes, so I couldn't stop myself and hit sister Foster's bike from behind! I looked at her, found out she was perfectly fine and then just started laughing hysterically. It was the funniest thing I have ever seen (after I found out she was okay of course). This is the best part though. As soon as she gets off the car she rolls her broken bike up to the driver's window and says "Hi I'm sister Foster from the church of Jesus Christ, What's your name?"  I'm just standing there staring at her thinking "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?  This is not the time or place to share the gospel!  You just got hit by a car!"  It was so funny, I couldn't believe what I had just witnessed and couldn't stop laughing.

You know you're a true missionary when even being hit by a car doesn't stop you from giving an ITL (invitation to learn). I haven't reached that point yet, and not sure if I ever will, but props to sister Foster. She's an animal!

That's all I got for you! The Trees are absolutely beautiful right now! I have a couple of pictures, but they don't do Michigan justice. The whole state is literally catching fire.

Praying for you all and love all the updates, keep them coming!

Sister Viehweg

October 6th, 2015

Sorry I missed yesterday. We had a last minute conference with the mission president yesterday, which means we didn't get to email and since we scheduled a bunch of appointments today our email time is cut very short!

Thank you for all the birthday packages, cards, and wishes. You all are so awesome and I am going to go through mail withdrawals this next week. Everyone's letter and package arrived either the day before or exactly on my birthday so excellent planning. Dad those protein bars taste like they were sent from heaven.

Paul, our investigator is supposed to be getting baptized on the 18th, but this past week Satan has been attacking him non stop. Everyone knows that Satan likes to work his hardest right before someone is about to make a good decision. Well Paul has been thinking lately that being Mormon just isn't for him anymore. Prayer are needed his way. We Can't lose him!!!! Satan really is the worst. 

We picked up another investigator named Alajuwan this week. he is 8 and so sweet. He's brilliant for an 8 year old and loves sports so everything we teach him we relate it back to sports. Jesus Christ = the best coach ever who had all the authority to control and teach is players yadda yadda yadda, the kid loves it.

Conference was amazing. It was cool to read all your different insights on it. I would suggest sharing what you have learned with each other you all seemed to have similar experiences :) Now that you all have watched conference go apply it to your lives. I wish I had time to express all my feelings on it, but just know that I firmly believe and know that we have the most amazing leaders in our church and we are so blessed to hear from them as often as we do.

Door Knocking Bloopers 

Sister Chatman and I knocked into a young man

The young man: "The Lutheran church kinda disowned my family because my parents got a divorce."

Sister Chatman: "Oh there is lots of divorce in our church!"  She looked at me afterwards and said, "Wait... that came out wrong!  Help sister Viehweg"

Knocked into a young mom who's daughter used to be a member.

Sister Viehweg: "Oh we can find her on facebook. Missionaries are reaaallllly good stalkers"   

Sister Chatman:  "Not that we actually go out and stalk people!"

That's all I got. Im sorry it was so short. Next week will be better. I'm praying so hard for you all and miss you more than you know. The fall brings back so many good memories with friends and family, but this is where im supposed to be right now. Why am I getting so sentimental right now? Time to get off! love you again!

Sister Viewheg

September 28th- Pioneer days

This week has been one of my favorites and probably has a lot to do with Sister Chatman. We are continuing to find out the most random things we have in common. This morning during companion study she said "I need to find you in male form, sister Viehweg!"  Haha She's great!  Amid all the laughs and jokes we are still getting our work done, which is good. Sister Chatman goes home in December so she's a Veteran and is really really good at door knocking/finding/teaching. I have learned a lot from her. She calls me her trainer because I'm trying to whip her back into shape for her upcoming basketball practices at BYU. After emailing we are going to go to the church and shoot around. I haven't played basketball in forever so I feel like I will mostly be rebounding for her, but it beats sitting around in our tiny apartment!

This weekend Bay City had their annual River of Time celebration. It's this HUGE event that people from all around put on. Basically it's a reenactment of all the battles that have happened in the US to shape our country, starting with the Indians (who were literally wearing a girdle about their loins) and ending with WWII.  It. Was. So. COOL!!  I have never seen anything like this. The actors came and set up all their campsites and acted as the people in that time period for 3 days while the community just kind walked around and shopped. The best part was that Sister Chatman and I got to be a part of the reenactment!  We represented the Mormon Battalion and got to dress up as Pioneers and basically play pioneer for 2 days.  It was a great opportunity and really gets the church's name out because they set up a family history booth and all this stuff.  Sister Chatman and I just ran some pioneer games and made rag dolls with all the kids.

Earlier that week we got called up by the Elders to participate in a service project the community was doing for a 100 yr old lady. Her garage had been vandalized. (This was on sister Chatman's 1st day in Bay City). We arrived at the project around 10:30, but had an appointment at 11, so we got right to work.  About 5 minutes later this news camera man and interviewer tapped on our shoulders and started interviewing us about the whole project. This took about 20 min!  After the interview we had to leave to our appointment so we really didn't do much, but get this, that night we were on the news!!! They chose our interviews to show and you better believe we were wearing our name tags and BYU gear!  The Elders were SOOOOO MAD hahaha, they were at the project for about 4 hours and didn't get squat.  Perks of being a sister missionary I guess :)

Our work is going well, we still have Paul on Date for the 17th, I know Satan works fast though so Im getting nervous something's going to happen. Keep him in your prayers!  I am getting more and more attached to all the members here in Bay City and with sister Chatman we have become the favorites. Poor Elders... we really do feel bad, but we can't help when people are so obsessed with us, haha.  Just kidding, but multiple people have asked both of us to send them our BYU jersey's signed when we get home.  So ridiculous, but I'll take it.  Yesterday a member gave some of the best advice to an investigator who wanted tattoos I have ever heard, "Don't use ink to profess your love, use diamonds!"  Hahaha, it was during a "Your body is a temple" lesson. Too funny.  The people here are CRAZY!

Love you all, thanks for the early birthday wishes.  I'm sure it's going to be a great day of lots of door knocking.  Also Happy Early Birthday Danielle!  Like I always say Birthdays only come once a year, take advantage of them, and make people do stuff for you ;)

Love,

Sister Viehweg