Happy Thanksgiving!

Hi Mama!!

Happy Thanksgiving! I can't believe it's here already. There are so, so many things that I am thankful for right now. I am grateful for the opportunity to serve a mission and be an instrument in the Lord's hands, and grateful that He is molding me, shaping me, and helping me grow into the person that He wants me to be. I'm grateful for miracles. I'm grateful for you, my wonderful, amazing family. I'm also grateful for scarves, gloves, layers, and big winter coats--winter is officially here, and it is COLD! I've been especially grateful for every appointment we've had this week, because it's given us the opportunity to be inside for a bit. :)

It's been a great week in Shaker Heights East. I absolutely love working with Sister Nelson, and I am learning so much from her wonderful example. She is so, so good! I hope that one day, I can be as good as she is. :)

Our numbers are few, but we have been working very hard, and we've seen a lot of miracles recently. One was that a man named Bob showed up to church yesterday and asked to meet with us! He lives in our area, and we're going to meet with him tonight. We are so grateful for this miracle!

Another miracle is the young man named Robert that I've been teaching over the phone at the Visitor's Center. He called me back after I left a message for him last night (miracle #1), and another amazing, Spirit-filled, Spirit-guided lesson took place. He is one of the most prepared people I've ever met, and I am so grateful for many continued miracles as I've been able to share the gospel with him. 

We went on exchanges with Sister Clark and Sister Mohler on Saturday, and it was wonderful. I worked with Sister Mohler in my area, and I learned so much from her! She is such a powerful teacher, and is has learned to rely on the Spirit very well. While working with her, I also learned a great lesson about charity--I saw my love for her grow as I got to know her better.

We have a busy few weeks coming up: tomorrow is the Community of Christ's annual Thanksgiving fireside at the Kirtland Temple, and we have been invited to sing 2 hymns as part of their program. So excited. :) Thursday is Thanksgiving with the Wagners (yay!!), and Friday is the Lighting Ceremony for the Nativity Exhibit at the Visitor's Center! We've been asked to provide musical numbers for that as well, so all of the Sisters get to be there. The nativities are almost all set up, and the displays are breathtakingly beautiful. I absolutely love this exhibit, and I'm so excited for it to open on Friday. We've seen a lot of miracles as we've taken invitations to people in our area--many hearts have been softened, and many people have expressed interest in coming. Yay! :) One miracle in particular was when we stopped by a lady named Kathleen on Saturday. We'd only met her once before, but she immediately invited us in (for which I was so grateful--it was so cold that day!!), and when we told her about the Nativity Exhibit, she was SO excited! It was a tender mercy for me to see something good happen.

Next week, we have a very special opportunity. We've been given permission to have a mission conference with the entire mission, at the Kirtland Temple!! Normally, we have mission conferences in two groups because there are so many of us, but this time, the whole mission will get together!! And on top of that, we get to meet in the Kirtland Temple. We are such lucky bugs, and I am so excited!!

Our investigators are, well, moving slowly. We had a great lesson with Ismaila over the phone on Saturday, but he didn't come to church yesterday. :( We haven't been able to get a hold of Korey, but hopefully soon. However, we did have a great lesson with our investigator Jason!! We started reading the Book of Mormon with him, and it was really neat to see him start to understand it. He's very smart, and also very open and willing to try new things. He's moving soon, but hopefully we'll get to meet with him again before that happens. One of my favorite parts of the lesson was at the end--we asked him to choose who would say the closing prayer, and he chose himself! He gave the closing prayer by choice. Awesome. :) I think his testimony will grow slowly, but surely. If you could pray for him, I would sure appreciate it!!

We saw another miracle with Sister Frazier, a less-active member we've been working with. She decided to join another church, but still lets us come over and study the scriptures with her. Recently, we've been trying to help her read the Book of Mormon. She's pretty set on the Bible, so a few weeks ago we decided to ask her to share some scriptures with us from the Bible, and then let us share some with her from the Book of Mormon. She loved the idea, and really opened up after that. When we came back this week, she had read the Book of Mormon!! She finished the chapter we gave her, and read another chapter as well. On her own!! This is the first time this has happened, so we were so excited. I love Sister Frazier!! She is amazing and so friendly, and I'm so grateful that we get to visit her.

I'm also grateful for every kept appointment this week. Ha. It gets so frustrating when appointments fall through!! It gives us more time to find new investigators though, which I'm also grateful for. In all honesty, I'm just grateful for everything. :) I love the Thanksgiving season, and the reminder to count my blessings. I have so, so many blessings that Heavenly Father has given me. I wish I could be at Grandpa's with you to celebrate this week--that truly is one of my favorite times of the year, and I love being with you all. But I know that I'm meant to be here. I wouldn't trade this experience for anything in the world, even though it's hard to be away from my family that I love so much. I have learned and continue to learn SO much here, about God, the gospel, how to live it, myself, and my Savior. I know that everything we do here is important, and it's amazing to see God's hand in the work that we do. So many things happen that I absolutely know couldn't happen by themselves, or just through our efforts--it has to be the Lord's hand. :) I hope that you are all able to count your blessings and recognize Heavenly Father's love in your lives this week, especially on Thanksgiving. We heard a wonderful talk on gratitude in Sacrament meeting yesterday, where we learned that gratitude opens our hearts and allows heaven to fill us. What a great concept. I know that it's true--gratitude helps us become more like the Savior as we recognize and desire more and more of His blessings, actions, and attributes.

We're almost out of time, but I love you very very much. I hope you have a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving!! Please tell Grandpa, Grandma, and Max hello for me, and give them all my love. :) I love you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love,

Sister Wygant

A week full of learning

Hi Mama!

Wow, it sounds like you've had a busy, busy week!! I hope and pray that you continue to have the energy and strength to do everything you need to. I don't know how you do so much at once--you are my hero! And you are absolutely right about needing to rely on the Lord every step of the way. I was reminded of that this week in a very powerful way. Elder Perkins of the Seventy was here for a few days, and on Saturday the Mission Leadership Council had the amazing opportunity to meet with him for a few hours. What a treat! Here are just a few things that I learned from him:

First, worrying is a form of pride--where we place more trust in ourselves and our own strength than in God. When we understand and remember who we are--nothing without God--we know that we can't do this by ourselves. We can use that to act differently, just like Elder Bowen shared with us. We act differently by relying on Him for everything--from finding to teaching to helping investigators keep appointments and commitments; from moving forward in faith to remaining patient to getting up on time in the morning. His enabling grace is not just the prize at the end of the finish line. He both helps us do all that we can, and fills in the gaps when we have done our best. We have to learn to lead by influence rather than command, for both our fellow missionaries that we lead and investigators that we teach. As we focus on bringing members to lessons and helping investigators attend church, conversion will take place and baptisms will happen. We can know how to accomplish our goals through revelation. Revelation comes when we are on the move, so to know how to make progress, we have to act, move forward, and work hard. We have to be humble, and seek for these accomplishments for the glory of God and benefit of others, not ourselves. The Church is true!!

Other than Elder Perkins, we had a pretty slow week. We worked SO hard, but every single one of our appointments with investigators and potentials fell through--and some multiple times. How frustrating! That's one of the biggest things we've come up against in this area--so many people don't keep appointments with us! It's gotten to the point where it's a little discouraging. But we're determined to learn from it and to find a way to success--with the Lord's help, of course. There are so many people that we've met here that are SO prepared--we just need to get Satan out of the way! Colleen, Korey, Ismaila, Susan--he gets them to be SO busy or sick, and to never have time to meet with us. He's so sneaky! It makes me wonder how many times that has happened in my own life without me realizing it. I have determined to never be too busy for the Lord in the future. If you could keep these people in your prayers, I would greatly appreciate it. I love them so much, and I want to teach them and help them receive gospel blessings so badly!!

We did, however, see some pretty amazing miracles this week, even in the midst of unkept appointments. :) We talked with a guy on the street named Zack, who was an atheist but the nicest person we talked to that whole day. He was the last person we talked to on that street, and I'm so grateful we did, because we had a very nice conversation, and he ended up accepting a Book of Mormon! 

Another miracle was that we stopped by our friend Colleen at just the right time--again. We walked up just as she was getting out of her car. She still hasn't been able to meet with us yet, but she is SO prepared, and I know we will meet with her eventually.

Yet another miracle was last night at the Visitor's Center. I called a young man named Robert who had called earlier that week asking about the Book of Mormon. He asked about faith, and I gave him Alma 32 to read. When I called yesterday to follow up, he had read the whole chapter and loved it! He was raised without a belief in Christ, but he's been searching through the Book of Mormon and has so many questions. He doesn't even know why he's searching, but he told me that he's so grateful for the Book of Mormon because it feels right to read it. We talked more about faith, and how to try that experiment for himself to know that God is there. It was the most amazing lesson I have ever been a part of, and it was definitely not me doing the teaching--it was the Spirit. Robert prayed for the very first time at the end, and it was a huge step for him. I could see his faith growing already! He is so amazing and prepared, and I am so grateful that I was blessed by Heavenly Father to get to teach him. It reminds me of D&C 123:17--to do all we can, and then to stand still and see the Lord's arm revealed. It was nothing I did that made Robert call the Visitor's Center, or made the lesson go so well--it was amazing to stand and watch the Spirit work. It's something I always work for, but I never expected to stand in quite so much awe. What a miracle!!

We had lunch with Sister Wagner and helped her clean her house on Thursday, and it was so fun. She is an amazing cook and healthy eater--I want to cook like her someday!! I'm learning little by little how to eat healthier, and she gave me some really great ideas. I was so grateful also to be able to provide service for her and help her with things she couldn't do on her own. I'm just now realizing that we were able to be the Lord's hands many times this week, and I am so grateful for it!!

It's hard to believe that Thanksgiving is so soon--how did that happen? I've been studying a lot about humility and gratitude lately. I'm glad we have a holiday to remind us how grateful we should be throughout the whole year. :) I know that we are so blessed, both in times of need and times of plenty, and I hope to be able to remember the Lord in all things.

I'll end here and send some pictures. You are always in my prayers, and I so appreciate yours. I sure need them!!!! Love you!!

Love,

Sister Wygant

1. Sister Nelson and I!

2. Sister Nelson and I with one of the big nativities at the VC. The Nativity exhibit opens next Friday--SO excited!

more to come :)

Happy Veteran's Day (late)

Hi Mama!!

It sounds like you've had a busy week! You have been continually in my thoughts and prayers, and I am glad that you have stayed safe and (somewhat) well. I hope you feel better soon! 

My heart is full today. It's been such a busy day, week, month, and transfer! Transfers are tomorrow (thus we have preparation day today--sorry I forgot to forewarn you again!), and I can't believe a whole transfer has gone by already! Sister Nelson and I are staying together, and I'm really excited. I absolutely love Shaker Heights East, Sister Nelson, and the Shaker Heights ward. I'm grateful for miracles, for the opportunity to work hard, and for everything I've learned about charity, diligence, the Atonement, and service throughout this transfer. I've grown more and been stretched more than I thought was possible--and that's how I know the Lord's hand has been in every detail, because I could not have made of myself what He has made of me. 

We saw many, many miracles this week. One was April, a lady from our potential investigators list. We called her on Monday, and she accepted an appointment for us to come over on Saturday. When we got there, she gathered all of her TEN kids to the table to listen to our message! Amazing. They were all so cute, and so polite. They want us to come back again, and we hope to be able to do so soon. What a miracle!!

Another miracle was Korey. We met him a few weeks ago, and he and his mom were both so receptive--they seemed very prepared. We set up an appointment to meet with Korey, but he cancelled and rescheduled several times, so we weren't sure how interested he was. We hadn't heard back from him in awhile, so on Saturday we decided to stop by. The first miracle was that he was sitting outside on his porch and invited us in, and the second miracle was the amazing lesson we had with him! He has been going through many trials lately, but is seeking to turn his life around, and recognized that we were sent to help him by sharing the gospel with him. It was amazing to see how prepared he was, and the difference that he noticed even after our short lesson--he told us that he felt his burdens had been lifted. The Church is true!

We also had an amazing tour with a member from American Fork (always a favorite :) ). He was so spiritually prepared for the Kirtland tour, and it was one of the best tours I've ever been a part of. The Spirit bore such powerful testimony to each of us, over and over again, and it was an incredible blessing. 

We had mission conference last Thursday, and it was AMAZING. President and Sister Vellinga are such wonderful, amazing, inspirational people. I love them so much! They helped us learn, helped us practice teaching and improve our teaching skills, and helped us understand the doctrine behind baptism so much better than I ever have before. We also got to watch some short clips from the Boy Scouts of America commemoration broadcast in the Conference Center--amazing! Did you get to watch it? Wally from SOTW was in it for a minute, as was MoTab and the Orchestra at Temple Square. It was such a treat to hear such wonderful music, see a few familiar faces, and be inspired by the Boy Scouts!! I loved it.

Something I've been focusing on for awhile is how to help people recognize that they are feeling the Spirit, and how to help people have a desire to learn. All you teachers out there, any suggestions? 

We're out of time, but I love you so much!!!!!! Have a wonderful week!!

Love,

Sister Wygant

PS photos! The GORGEOUS tree outside our house. We are so lucky.

Happy November!

Hi Mama!

Happy November! I can't believe it's here. Where did October go? It definitely flew. 

We had the most incredible experience yesterday. We got to attend a special sacrament meeting in the Kirtland Temple!!!! The Kirtland Stake does something called Laurel Academy and Camp Helaman every year, for the laurels and priests who are Seniors in High School. They get together and do workshops/classes about the gospel, life skills, college, etc--a weekend of testimony building. They ended yesterday with a special sacrament meeting/testimony meeting held in the Kirtland Temple. Sister Nelson and I were asked to help with their last workshop that morning, about missionary work. We were privileged to share our testimonies about missionary work with the Laurels in the School of the Prophets! It was an incredible experience, as was the sacrament meeting in the temple (they invited us to attend with them). The Spirit was so strong in both places. I feel so blessed and lucky to serve here! How great is our calling. :) Being a missionary is the best!!

We also had a wonderful tour yesterday with George and Janet, a non-member couple from Cleveland. They are photographers, and found Historic Kirtland on the internet while looking for places to photograph! We took them through the tour, they took some great pictures, and we had some fabulous religious discussions. It was so natural and normal to talk with them--they were very open and friendly. In the end, they declined a Book of Mormon, but did take a card for our Nativity exhibit and one for the Johnson Home. It was a very rewarding tour.

Speaking of Nativities, they've started setting up!! Some of the pictures are here, and some people have already brought in their nativities. Some of them are familiar from last year--it seems like just yesterday! The exhibit opens the day after Thanksgiving, and I'm so excited. :) 

We went on two exchanges last week. First, I worked with Sister Smith in my area. She grew up in AF, and her sister was a drum major! She knows some of the same people I do. Small world. :) She is such an amazing teacher, and I loved working with her. We taught a first lesson to a man named Jason that we met two weeks ago, and it went so well! The member that came with us shared powerful experiences and testimony, and we were able to focus on his needs and concerns, and I felt that it went very well. Yay. :)

I also went to the Kirtland area, and worked with Sister Spong! Yay team Provo :) It was so fun. She is such a great missionary! It was a great opportunity to learn and grow together. :) I was especially amazed at the wonderful members here who do so much, and sacrifice so much, to help the missionaries. I'm so grateful for their service to us, and I know that the Lord will shower down blessings on them for it.

Mission Leadership Council was last week, and as we were talking about scripture study, Sister Vellinga shared this idea from President Eyring (my general summary): "Consistent, daily study opens the conduit to heaven and allows Heavenly Father to bless us with revelation, even if what we're studying doesn't apply to the questions we asked." That is one of my favorite quotes from the week, because I know it is true! I have truly seen on my mission that as I've studied the Book of Mormon every day, it invites the Spirit to my personal study, and to my day, even if what I read has nothing to do with the other things I study that day. 

Elder and Sister Jones, a senior couple serving with us at the Visitor's Center, finished their mission and went home on Friday. What a sad and happy day! Sad because we'll miss them dearly, and happy for the wonderful service they gave and friendships we developed with them. They are incredible, and I love them so much. And they're from Provo! So I'll definitely see them again. :) 

Sister Nelson and Sister Harrison had a great lesson with our investigator Ismaila on Saturday (I was in Kirtland on exchanges). He wants to be baptized soon! He's been having a hard time understanding the Book of Mormon, but committed to reading it every day this week. He also learned what the Spirit feels like! He described what he felt during their opening and closing prayer, and they helped him to recognize that it was the Spirit--THAT IS SO COOL. That's actually something we've been focusing on a lot lately--how to help people recognize that they are feeling the Spirit. It is so important to understand the role of the Spirit, and to be able to recognize when it's there--or answers can be missed, impressions can be overlooked, and testimonies can't grow! So I'm very grateful that Ismaila asked about what he was feeling, and that the Sisters were able to help him recognize the Spirit. Will you pray for him this week? He's going to be gone all week visiting family, and we hope that he'll remember to read the Book of Mormon, and that he won't encounter any opposition from his family about the Church.

We got to watch the CES Devotional with Elder Osguthorpe last night, and it was amazing! No wonder he's the General Sunday School President--he is such an incredible teacher! I was so impressed, and I learned a lot. You'll have to watch it and see for yourself, but he shared some remarkable insights about agency and giving our will to God. He included some video clips of his recent visits with some students, and Courtney Moses was one of them! That was really cool to see. If I remember right, she's been home almost a year now. She looks so happy. :) 

Well, we're about out of time, but I love you so much! Thank you for helping me choose to serve a mission. It's hard work, every day, but I love it here. I know that I am being changed for the better as I learn how to more fully submit my will to Heavenly Father's, and rely on the Savior to do this work with Him. Yesterday, Sister Moss (Stake YW President) counseled her Young Women to let every experience, whether on a mission or not, pass through them and change them, instead of just passing through and not being affected by anything. I know that I am being changed here, and I hope that our efforts are making a difference. Sometimes it doesn't seem like they are--so thank you for your testimony and encouragement. Onward, ever onward!! I love you!!! 

Deuteronomy 6:17-18: new favorite scripture. :)

Love,

Sister Wygant

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Sister Wygant and Sister Jones

Sister Wygant and Sister Nelson at the Morley Farm

Morley Farm