April 6, 2016

I love being a missionary!!! Wow! I could say that all day! 

 

Well family! Let me tell you about my week with Breck Steele. I just love saying that! 

Breck and I have always had a hard time holding in our laughter and things have NOT changed since we were little. While on campus we would often be laughing so hard at what one of us said in an ITL (invite to learn) and you know what, people would come up to us and start asking us what was so funny, instead of us approaching them! It worked out perfectly and we were actually able to pick up a lot of sweet potential gators. 

Here are a couple of funny random stories...

Every Wednesday night we have a missionary dinner, where the branch feeds us and it's our job to bring gators. Well Breck and I get there and I am talking to our gator Krista pretty intently, because Breck is just off doing her own thing with members. She was not really talking to her but then we went to the bathroom, to clean up her shirt she had spilled all over.  I told her we need to pay more attention to Krista (the gator).  After that Breck chatted it up with her and it was awesome.  So after Krista leaves, the Elders come over and asked us who that girl was.  I responded with, "our investigator!" and Breck looks at me and says, "Whhhaaaat????? You NEVER TOLD ME!"  She had NO idea who she was talking to!  She just thought Krista was a random member.  Hahahaha, too funny.

Rain storm anyone?!  Yikes!  As we were walking the 30 min. back to our apartment this HUGE random rain and hail storm hit us. It was raining and hailing so hard that it was raising welts on our skin!  I for real thought we were going to get struck by lightning.  After about 10 minutes a cute boy in a pickup truck pulled over and asked if we wanted a ride.  We both wanted to say yes soooo badly, but kept to the rules and politely refused his offer.  Heavenly Father was just trying to test us.

Okay... last funny story, I actually don't know if any of these are even funny, but anywayssss....  There is a family who always feeds us and the Zone Leaders. Every single time we go over the dad greets us at the front door and says, "Welcome to the serenity home."  The family is SO sweet, but bless their hearts, they are quite interesting and the conversation always makes me laugh so hard. I tried to prep Breck for this house, but I don't think I did a very good job because as soon as the dad said, "Welcome to the serenity home."  She lost it and was dying laughing the ENTIRE dinner appointment, which of course was making me laugh and the Zone Leaders too.  None of us could keep our composure, and the family was just sitting around us chatting away.  You literally can go to their house and not say one word and they wouldn't even notice.  All their dining stuff is patio furniture, so I was able to recline in a nice patio chair and just listen and laugh.  We shared a spiritual thought and then headed on our way, but before we left the dad asked sister Steele and I to feel his muscles!  WHAT!?  Thank goodness the ZL were there to feel them for us....  Always a good experience at the serenity home

We had one of our investigators make it to General Conference, which was awesome!  He even had to cancel a doctor appointment to make it. It was great because he leaned over to me during a talk i was NOT following and said, " I am getting all of this! Are you getting this??"  Lets just say I made a note to read that talk later. :)  General Conference in general was AMAZING!  I feel so motivated to go out and tell everyone about our prophet and apostles right now!

Love you family!!

Sister Viehweg

March 28th, 2016

Hey Fam and Friends, I really missed all of you on Easter, but it's been good to hear about all your experiences and new traditions you started!

I guess I should start with the big news first.  Ever since I have been here in Kalamazoo my companion, Sister Jorgensen, has been struggling with pretty severe headaches. The headaches were constant and they seemed to be getting worse and worse the farther we got into the transfer.  She eventually came out and told me that she had a double concussion that took place in the MTC and never got it taken care of.  The repercussions of the injuries were finally hitting her and it was taking a toll on both of us.  We would have to take breaks frequently and sometimes come back to our apartment so that she could go to bed, leaving me awake and trying to run the area as well as calling all our sisters, and planning etc., etc.  It got to the point where she couldn't even focus in her studies anymore or teach properly.  Her words became all mixed up and I would have to teach entire lessons by myself.  I finally broke down one morning and told her she had to call our mission President.  The Jacobsen's heard the news and were at our apartment the next day giving Sister J the news she was dreading.  They are releasing her honorably as a missionary and she will be returning back home to Idaho tomorrow for MRI's and other tests she needs to get done on her head.  This all took place a couple of days ago, and for a while President Jacobsen didn't know what to do with me!  He wasn't sure if he should close down the area for the time being, release me as an STL, put me in a trio (I'm still in STL training so I still have lots to learn).  We FINALLY got the news of what was going to happen this morning, and you are never going to believe this family.... SISTER BRECK STEELE is coming to be my companion for the last 4 weeks of this transfer and the last 4 weeks of her mission!  I CAN'T BELIEVE that I am going to be able to kill my best friend off the mission! We have been praying to be companions ever since I got into the mission field, and we had finally accepted the fact when we met each other at the Lamb of God production that it wasn't going to happen.  But miracles really do exist!  I'm really sad how it all went down with sister Jorgensen, but I am so excited and feel so blessed to be able to be with Breck for these last 4 weeks of her mission.  She is being recalled as an STL and will finish out training me at WMU in Kalamazoo.  This area is in for a reallll treat!

As for the rest of this week, it's been pretty slow.  Sister Jorgensen hasn't been able to do much, so I had to basically pack everything for her because bending down and lifting things makes her head hurt way too much.  We did however have a really neat Easter Sunday.  One of the singers from the Lamb of God show came and spoke during our sacrament meeting and sang a special musical number.  The KUB (the building on campus we meet in) is a really neat place.  It used to be an old baptist church and has a balcony and really pretty acoustics in it.  I will have to send a picture of it next week.  For Relief Society sister Jorgensen and I got asked to speak on the Atonement and the Sacrament the day before Sunday, and it went pretty well, but I felt a little bad because we didn't have too much time to prepare.  It was all last minute, but that's when the spirit comes in right??? ::)

Our investigators are all doing pretty well.  To be honest we haven't been able to meet with a bunch of them, because of Sister J's injury, but as soon as Sister Steele gets here we are going right back to work and will be picking the area up again!  Hopefully some baptisms will be coming our way really soon!

That's about all I got from the K-Zoo! More details on gators will happen next week!

Love,

Sister Viehweg

March 21st, 2016 Hump Day

Happy Hump Day!!!  I am officially 9+ MONTHS OLD!!  Half way baby!  I can't believe half my mission life is over!  I feel like I just got out here!

This week on campus was way better! Students were actually walking around! Spring Break is over and everyone is already super busy with their work, school, and social schedules. I was super nervous about working on Campus, but after my first day I got somewhat used to it. I still get nervous, but talking to students is actually really fun!  They are all so different and so open to exploring new things.  It's great.  The only problem is, students are a little too comfortable with giving their number out so we have a lot of false alarms.  We get really excited about all the people we have to contact and then text them and get the response, "Sorry I am not interested anymore."  So that will be a huge struggle here, but in the meantime we are teaching some pretty awesome young adults.  I actually haven't even met our top investigator yet, Brea, who is on date to be baptized in April, because of trade offs!  But I hear great things about her. :)

I had my first set of Training Leader Trade-Off's this week with the sisters in Battle Creek, the "Cereal Capital of the World."  It was definitely a learning experience. While I was in Battle Creek, or should I say Battle Crack (the city is SO ghetto), with sister Pettet my main job was just to see how she was doing and help her improve on her teaching, finding, and planning skills. The area is actually not doing that great, so it was pretty stressful trying to work everything out in 24 hours.  It was still a good experience though and I am excited to go on the remaining 3 trade-offs with all the other sisters!

I am happy, I know my Savior lives, I am so exhausted.  I have never been this tired in my entire life.  Sister G-ma and I have been getting up at 5:50 to get a little more exercise in.  Being an STL has brought a little more stress into the picture, so the extra workout time helps me a TON, haha.  Plus we have a fancy gym to use in our apartment complex, so why not put it to some good use?

Enjoy the Easter week and remember what the resurrection of the Savior truly means to you individually :)

Sister Viehweg

Eating a cactus

Hump day whale

March 14th- Kalamazoo

Hello From the one and only Kalamazoo, or K-Zoo, or KalamaZion, I have heard it all,

This week has seriously been a blur so I will try my best to remember everything that happened to me!

Monday, I packed up and headed to Mount Pleasant, which is a pretty central meeting place for the top half of the mission. When we got there, there were about 100 other missionaries all waiting for what we call the "transfer vans", Large 15 passenger vans. Once they arrived they hauled all of our luggage into the trailers, we said our goodbyes to our companions, and headed on the road. So these transfer vans will travel all around the mission picking up missionaries in one area and then dropping them off in a different one. Since I was traveling the farthest I was on on the transfer van for about 8 hours... and the worst part was that I was the ONLY sister in that transfer van for 8 hours!  It was such a long day.  I mean I love the Elders, but that experience definitely made me grateful for my Sisters.  After finally arriving in K-Zoo I met my new companion, Sister Jorgensen, from Parma Idaho. I call her Sister G-ma because she just turned 25 haha!  I can tell I am going to learn a lot from her and we are getting along just fine and dandy.  Sister J and I had a dinner appointment so we went straight to that and then afterwards FHE, because I am in the YSA Branch.  I met so many people and was so tired all I could think about was crawling into bed, but as soon as we got home we had to make a million phone calls.  Sister J just looked at me and said, "Get used to this sister..."

Western Michigan University has been on Spring Break all week so campus has been totally dead.  My first day out on Campus we walked around for about 5 hours and saw maybe 5 people, and NONE of them were students.  Since we are the sisters in the YSA branch we are only allowed to teach students, who are a certain age, which is kind of a bummer.  Sister J and I are officially in a walking area too, so we walk and walk and walk and walk.  My feet were dead the first day, but I am starting to get used to it.  Sister J wears a fitbit and we average about 12-13 miles a day and burn around 1600 calories...  I don't know if that's good or not, but it's really neat seeing the actual numbers!  Being back on a college campus is the weirdest thing.  I don't know how to explain it.  The branch is super awesome and I keep asking everyone how old they are expecting them to say 30-40, but they all respond with 21, 20, 25.  Throws me off big time.

When you don't have a car you constantly run into interesting people, one of which was a man who took my ITL card from my hand and started smelling it!???   Such a creeper!  It's all good though, because after that ITL card Sister J noticed I had written the wrong phone number on all my ITL cards.  Talk about blessings :)  Another boy we ran into said he wanted a lesson right then and there.  So we sat down on Campus and started teaching him about prophets, but this kid was not getting it.  He kept thinking profit, not prophet, and kept bringing money back into the picture.  I'm just over here like, "NO!  Buddy... You're not getting it!!"  Halfway through our lesson he admitted to being stoned out of his mind.  Explains a lot. #dontdodrugs  We also stopped and talked to a homeless man that looked like Santa!  Seemed like a pretty harmless situation, no.  Big mistake, I started laughing at him because he was talking about who knows what and he instantly got super mad at us and started yelling. We threw an ITL card at him and booked it off that street.  This place really is a zoo.

On the plus side we were able to find some really neat people to begin teaching!  Lisa and Cammy, we door knocked into and they are really awesome. Both have a sincere desire to learn, so more will be coming about them. Hopefully all of our other investigators will be coming back into town today so that I can actually meet them!

This Saturday I was able to attend Lamb of God.  Lamb of God is this huge production that Kalamazoo puts on all about Jesus Christ's life from the Bible.  It was written by Rob Gardner, and they invite any and all religions to take a part in it.  This year they had over 50 different religions participate in the Choir and the orchestra.  The spirit felt in that room is only comparable to the temple, but it's a different kind of spirit.  One of unity.  Dad, you should really look up the sound track and listen to it.  I think you would really enjoy it.  And the best part was that I was able to see Sister Breck Steele there!  She totally surprised me.  I walked into the auditorium and there she was running at me yelling my first name :) hahaha!!!   I love that girl so much and I am so sad she is almost done with her mission, but seeing her was just the cherry on top for the entire evening.  I don't know how she convinced President, but you know the Steele's, they just work their magic.

Thats all I got! Love you all from the Zoooooo!

Sister Viehweg

ps. Sister Training Leaders get to have Facebook, but there are rules.  I can add all of you and see what you are doing with your lives, but you CANNOT message me and I CANNOT message you. It is only to be used for missionary purposes, so don't make it harder than it already will be :)  I mean that in the most loving way possible

pps. I was finally able to meet up with the one and only Chet Walker!!!  Gotta love having large families!

ppps. My new mailing address is 232 Lake Ridge Drive, Kalamazoo, MI 49006

Shannon with Sister Breck Steel

Shannon with Chet Walker

March 7th, 2016- Good Bye Bay City

Helloooooo!
President Jacobson called us this weekend and I have been called to serve on the Western Michigan University Campus in Kalamazoo as a Sister Training Leader....  I am BEYOND nervous about this calling and have no idea what to expect. I am currently emailing in the Bay City Library all packed up and will head to the other side of the state right after I am done. What. The. Heck!?  My new companion's name is Sister Jorganson. She is a little older, I think 26 to be exact, and from Parma, Idaho (I think) So we should get along just great!  It is going to be a struggle adjusting from a family ward to an Young Single Adult Branch and going from working with adults to people my own age...  Wish me luck because I am headed back to college!
This week has been extremely emotional for everyone!  Sister Sheppard is taking over Bay City and is getting placed back into a trio, which she is scared about, and she is nervous to have me leave.  I feel her pain though, when my trainer left I felt like I was being abandoned, but I know she will do great things.  Our missionary work took quite of a slump this weekend because everyone in the ward wanted last minute dinner appointments, lunch appointments, and breakfast appointments.  I have NEVER eaten so much food!  Thank goodness my next apartment has a gym in it!  Also, all the goodbyes and pictures and tears are killing me.  People aren't supposed to cry when a missionary leaves!  Bay City really has been a home away from home for me. Nine months is a long time to spend in one area, and I will never forget the people that impacted my life here.
I don't have much to say this week, but next week I'm sure I will have plenty of awkward stories to share as I try my best to preach the gospel to college kids!
I LOVE YOU ALL!

Sister Viehweg

With Sister Shepard

Eating ice cream with the Elliots

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February 29th, 2016

Heyyyoooo Family!!!

This week was all over the place. Time just keeps flying by!  I. Don't. Get. It.  The end of this transfer is coming too soon and I just want to know where I am headed next!  The suspense is killing me!  We have been spending a lot of time with members, because I am going to miss ALL OF THEM.  The people really are what make your mission so wonderful.

I'll start with Monday though!  Last P-Day we let the Elders be in charge of planning a group P-Day activity... big mistake.  They had us all meet in Sagnasty (Saginaw) on the East side, which is one of the highest crime rated cities in the US, to go "exploring."  Sister Sheppard and I were a little reluctant because, HELLO, we didn't want to get shot!  But we met everyone there and ended up finding this old abandoned race horse track that was really cool.  The whole time we were exploring it I kept thinking we were going to stumble upon dead bodies or sleeping hobos, but we didn't, no worries.  The elders did however play a not so funny joke and me and locked me in a pitch black room for about 5 minutes all by myself.  Stupid elders.  But it was good fun.  I will attach some photos of the old wreckage.  (She didn't......)

All day Tuesday while out door knocking, people at the doors kept warning us about the storm that was about to hit the next day, and sure enough Wednesday afternoon it began to snow.  At first it was light, but by 4:00 it was coming down pretty hard and that's when we got a call from our District leaders telling us that President Jacobson would like all of us to "park our cars," because it was a complete white out and the roads were too bad. I understood this order as, "Go back to your apartment, park your car, and get to work--on foot!!"  So sister Sheppard and I headed back and by this time there was a decent amount of snow on the ground.  We put on a ridiculous amount of layers and headed out walking to go door knocking.  The snow was coming down so hard we couldn't even see 10 ft in front of us!  IT WAS HORRIBLE!  We trudged in snow that was up to our knees for about 2 and a half hours before I finally called it quits and we took refuge in Pita's house.  When Pita saw is her mouth just dropped.  Sister Sheppard and I hadn't realized that our make up was completely smeared all down our faces!  No wonder no one wanted to talk to us...  At Pita's we taught her kids about faith and likened it to a seed, of course:) and then taught Pita all about the Great Apostasy.  I don't think I will ever get over how excited and eager her kids are to learn about God.  Anything they can get their hands on.  They all LOVE praying too.  It's so cute. 

That night we got a call from our district leader asking us what we did during the storm.  We told him we door knocked and he was completely shocked!  Apparently we were the only ones who did not stay inside during the storm.  The rest of the elders stayed in and cleaned or studied.  Bunch of sissies if you ask me :)

On Friday we went to this member's house who fed us legitimate weeds.... They were surprisingly really good.  She is what you would call a complete granola person.  After dinner she let us help her feed and brush her horses.  Elder Hartley and I were in heaven while the two city kids just sat back with their noses up.  Hahaha, too funny!  I don't think Sister Sheppard or Elder Nielson have ever had to get their hands dirty.  But, everyone is raised differently, I'm just so proud I was raised an Idahoan.

Sunday we had a lot of less actives and investigators make it to church.  It's really neat to see the fellowship that takes place throughout the 3 hours.  I know that when I leave everyone I have worked with is left in good hands.  Jessica is coming along and I think has about had it with her boyfriend. She keeps telling us she is going to kick him to the curb, so pray for a breakup because that is the only thing stopping her from baptism.

That's all I got for u's (total Michigan thing) love u's lots and have a great week!

Sister Viehweg

February 22, 2016

Family, I LOVE YOU! I love reading all the letters!  Keep them coming!  All your lives are changing so much and it's so exciting hearing about everything!

Rachel, CONGRATS on the BABY!!!  He is Darling!  Seriously so cute.  I am already bragging about the new member of our growing family, which continues to grow more and more while I'm gone!  What the heck!?  But it's okay, they will all still be cute when I get home. :)

What exciting news happened this week...

Our Baptism for Katie was a Huge success! Katie was baptized Saturday the 20th and confirmed Sunday the 21st. As soon as she came out of the water she turned to all of us and yelled "YEAH!" and started clapping her hands, it was the cutest thing in the world.  However, we all thought that her boyfriend (who was baptizing her) was going to drown her!  He held her under the water for 6 SECONDS!  Our bishop, who was a witness, started freaking out and was like, "You need to bring her out of the water now!" It was so funny. Katie came up to me before the baptism and told me that she had told Ron to hold her under for 6 seconds. I told her 6 was too many and to instead have him count to 2.  I guess she didn't relay the message, but everything worked out and Katie is still alive :).  Katie was literally the perfect investigator. And I just know she is going to do great things within the church.  Every time I look at her all I can see is the next Relief Society President.  This next week she is getting interviewed for her Temple recommend and then the week after will hopefully make it to the Detroit temple!

Meeting with gators has been hard this week. Everyone is getting sick, including everyone we are teaching. So we are in the process of trying to heal everyone from their sicknesses.  Lots and lots and LOTS of prayers!  We stopped by to see this lady named Barbara who just had knee surgery and she literally asked sister Sheppard and I to give her a blessing.  IT was the weirdest thing!  We told her she needed to call the Elders for that, but she insisted, so she grabbed our hands and placed them on her knee and had us say a prayer.  It was so weird.... never want to do that again.

This week we also had President interviews and those went well. President Jacobsen and I get along really well and he keeps making the joke that if I stay in Bay City any longer the govt. is going to force him to start paying taxes on me because I will become a permanent resident.  So it's probably safe to say that in two weeks I will most likely be leaving Bay City.  Lots of hard goodbyes will be coming my way, but I know that I will be called to wherever I am next needed.

Love you all and have a great week!

Sister Viehweg