Well, she's gone. Hermana Weinstock has left the mission...kind of.
Tuesday
before transfer conference Hermana Weinstock and Hermana Duke picked us
up for lunch and we had a lunch appointment with the missionaries.
haha. We found a local taco truck and had a picnic in the car before
they dropped us off to our next appointment. It was awesome. We were
laughing so hard that I thought all of the filling in my taco was going
to fall out and I'd be left with just a tortilla.
I
was sad that I missed transfer conference where she gave her "dying
testimony", but I felt like I needed to stay in my area that day, so I
sent my camera with some of the other missionaries so they could film
it.
Her
mother came to pick her up from the mission home on Wednesday morning
before they headed off to visit all of the areas that Hermana Weinstock
has served in. Bayonne (neighboring cities with Jersey City) being one
of the last.
Saturday afternoon we got a call
from the Sisters Weinstock (Hermana Weinstock -still a missionary- and
her mom) saying that they were in the area. They wanted to stop by and
say hi, also to return my GPS that they had been using for the past few
days. We had appointments for the rest of the night, but they were able
to team up with us and we had the most powerful lessons with our
investigators.
Our investigator Veronica, who
has been taking the lessons for 10 years, was brought to tears by a
simple testimony of the priesthood and our less active, Hermana Calcano,
felt the power of faith. Enough to help her come back to church and
have desires to work towards the temple and to receive her endowments.
I
love this area and this work so much. I have been constantly striving
to love more and to focus the source of my love on the Savior. As
I love the people more, I want to do more for them. And as I do more
for them, I get tired, so you can imagine how tired I have been, but
something that I learned from Hermana Weinstock, is that the Atonement
is an enabling power and that it is powerful enough to overcome
anything, including tiredness. I testify that it works. The Atonement is
the most powerful thing that I know.
On
Wednesday a lot of our appointments cancelled, so we contacted people
like crazy. It felt so good to spend our time introducing something so
amazing to someone who had never heard of it before. Not very many
people accepted it that day, but I know that the spirit was present in
each contact that we had and I was spiritually edified.
I
also received the packages from Mom and Dianna! They couldn't have come
at a better time. We had been out all day in the freezing rain,
contacting, but when we got home, Hermana Carter and I both had packages
from home to open. What a treat!
Thursday and Friday (the day before Halloween and of Halloween).
Halloween
is definitely spooky here in Jersey City. The house decorations and
spirit of Halloween is taken very seriously, but there are two spirits
that decided to take a different twist on Halloween. With the Spirit of
God burning like a fire, and a "Halloween costume" on, we touched many
spirits.
I dressed up as a "pumpkin" and Hermana Carter was a "cheetah". :)
After
we had been out spreading the gospel for the majority of the day we
needed to come home. Halloween and the day before are two of the most
dangerous days here in New Jersey because of gangs, so we had to be in
our apartment early those days. The mission president authorized the
whole mission to watch an authorized church video on Halloween if we so
decided. We decided. Hermana Carter had never seen "17 Miracles" before,
so that was our movie of choice. After we had finished all of the
missionary work that we could do, we pulled out the ice cream and
watched "17 Miracles". It was so powerful. Even though the circumstances were dark outside, the spirit beamed out of our little apartment. It ignited a new fire in me to do missionary work.
I am sorry I don't have much time, but I loved this week. I loved loving everyone and I love being a missionary!
I love you all!
Hermana Childs
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