Monday, September 28, 2015

Many Miracles



Dear Family & Friends,

Well, I absolutely loved every minute of this week!

On Monday, preparation day ended early so I could go on an exchange
with Sister Beecher from the Plainview YSA Branch. She's an amazing
missionary and we saw wonderful things happen together. She knows the
Vanhille boys, and guess what - she babysat my roommate Madeline Craft
once upon a time! Small world.

Sister Cook came to Patchogue with my companions.. I missed them so
much!! Reuniting with them was the happiest thing. They're just so
cute!!! In hopes of making me laugh, they decided to only wear my
clothes that day. And boy did I ever laugh when I saw them.

Tuesday night we had a meeting with Our stake president, President
Hardman to talk about the deaf members of the stake. HE IS AMAZING. We
love him. His conversion story is remarkable. Before experiencing the
Doctrine of Christ, he was one of those men who stood outside of
general conference and protested. He was convinced this was the church
of the devil. That is, until he read a little bit of the Book of
Mormon. He knew it was true, the spirit told him, and was not very
happy about it because he DID NOT WANT to be Mormon. He hated Mormons!
But he knew he had to follow the promptings of the spirit. It took him
a while to be baptized. He was so stubborn and wouldn't believe
anything anyone told him. He insisted on receiving every answer from
God... And he did. He is such a revelatory man! I gained so much
understanding as to how to help these deaf people as I listened to him
teach us. Really what it got down to was, all of us, especially deaf
people must receive our testimonies from the inside out. Humans are
like light bulbs when it comes to truly understanding the gospel of
Jesus Christ!
Anyways, the point was, it doesn't matter if the deaf people can't
hear what's being said in church, it doesn't matter if we can't go to
their local meeting house to interpret for them, it doesn't matter if
they can't make it to the deaf group in south shore. What matters is
that we as missionaries teach them how to learn FOR THEMSELVES...
Teach them how to receive the spirit, how to get answers to their
prayers, etc. Really, it was things I already knew, but it was SO
POWERFUL coming from him.
I love President Hardman. Good/bad news: he's moving to Utah!!! I'm so
excited. The Plainview Stake is sad... :(( it's weird, all the strong
Long Islanders have either already moved, are in the process of
moving, or plan to move soon). South shore ward is about to fall apart
because of it, that is why we are fasting as a ward for more members!!
We really really need it. South Shore might not be a ward in a few
months of it doesn't grow.

The most embarrassing thing happened this week...
There was trainer/trainee meeting in the city. It was great! The
Union Square ASL Elders and Sisters were there so it was fun seeing
them. The HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY WAS THAT ELDER BROWN GOT HEARING AIDS.
BEST DAY EVER. HE IS SO FOREVER CHANGED. Not only can he communicate
with people through sign language now, but he also understands the
gospel, can read the Book of Mormon with the help of a companion, and
now he can HEAR REAL LOVE SOUNDS. he can even say his name!!! I was so
happy for him!!!! He is a modern day miracle. I guess I am too now
that I think about it.

Funny story: I was interpreting for Elder Brown at the meeting when
they turned on a movie that I could not understand for the life of me.
Elder Brown was like "come on, what are they saying?" I said "I have
no idea! I need an interpreter myself!" He turned to a plastic cup and
said to it, "you're a better interpreter than Sister Layton." HAHAH.
Ok anyways Wednesday night we came home and our neighbor said our fire
alarm had been going off for hours! There was no fire, but the Co2
detector was going off as well. We couldn't get them down... Our
ceilings are pretty high and we have no ladder. Our neighbor tried to
help us since he's a bit taller but it wasn't working out too well. So
we called the senior couple in charge of housing, they told us to call
the fire department and send someone to "investigate," JUST IN CASE
there was a problem.
Well, Sister Deuel called and explained it was not an emergency, but
that we wanted someone to "investigate." Soon enough we had the whole
crew in front of our house. Ambulance, fire truck, everything.
Hahahahhaaaaaaaa how embarrassing.
In the end, it was a false alarm and everything was fine. The
firefighters did bring in their ladder to help us get the alarm off
the ceiling, so that was a win.
Not sure why that happened.... Maybe we planted some seeds? Only God knows.

People! A MIRACLE HAS OCCURRED. Aaaahhhhh I'm so happy about this one.
So, remember how we have a bunch of deaf investigators from Brentwood?
Some young, some old, most from Spanish families. Selvin is one of
them. He wants to get baptized, but he's super hard to teach. The
language barrier is such a struggle... He doesn't understand much ASL.
For a while we've had a desire to teach our deaf investigators
families, but they speak Spanish so its rough. Well, this week we
managed to communicate with Selvin's mother enough to get her phone
number. The Hermana's called her and taught her the Restoration the
next day. Then SELVIN'S WHOLE FAMILY WENT TO
CHURCH. AND THEY LOVED IT. can you even believe that? We weren't able
to be there to interpret for him, but I have faith he felt the spirit
anyways.
I have a testimony that the gospel blesses FAMILIES. even if only one
person is striving to grow closer to Christ, the whole family will be
blessed because of it. I'm so happy for Selvin because the family
truly is the best place to learn and apply the gospel, and I know that
he will understand more clearly as his family is learning with him :)
Hopefully the Hermanas will be able to teach our other investigators
families soon! Pray for that, will you?

Ok this is getting long but we SAW SO MANY MIRACLES THIS WEEK. Here's one more.
We were driving down the street when we saw a FAMILY outside
of their house. It's not often you see that. You all know Sister
Layton loves pulling over and talking to random people, on the street.
So what did we do? Pulled over and talked to them- "Hello! Have you
ever seen missionaries like us before?" Guess what comes out of the
mothers mouth, "I'm LDS!" Say what. My jaw dropped. I asked her name
and sure enough she's an inactive member we had been trying to call
and contact with no luck!

I could go on and on. I love my mission so much! I wish I had a year
left rather than just two months! We are so blessed to be on Christ's
team, the winning team! My companions and I choose a scripture to
memorize every week and recite it each morning before starting our
studies. This week we chose the Standard of Truth. It's so powerful! I
know the work of salvation will continue to progress until Christ
himself says "the work is done."

Best of luck watching conference!! We are excited out of our minds for
it. The past week has been full of testifying of a living prophet and
apostles to everyone. We've handed out too many invites to count.
Don't forget to prepare yourselves and have questions in mind... Or
else you might fall asleep.

See you soon.
Xoxo
Sister Layton

-This pic is for you mom! Elder Parrish and I. This is probably the
funniest picture I've taken my whole mission. I LOOK SO SHORT.
-the day they took over my wardrobe. Haha
-Sister Peterson and I fighting over Sister Deuel since her training
was split between the two of us :)
-this is probably the last pic you'll see of us before you see us come
down the escalator together❤️

Monday, September 21, 2015

Sprint to the End

Hey Everyone :)

THIS WEEK WAS SO GOOD.  A pure delight!

We started off the week with a mega zone conference featuring Elder
Bennet from the Quorum of the Seventy and his darling wife. Oh my LANDS. I was so
edified. The miracle is, he didn't prepare anything! The only thing he
brought with him was the Spirit. And let me tell you, the Spirit there
was so strong. It was pretty much a 5 hour discussion about things our
mission needs to change and things we can do better. I've loved
applying the things he challenged us to do... It's changing
EVERYTHING!

After the conference I looked at our phone and saw we missed 17 calls
from The ASL sisters in the city. They gave me the most heartbreaking
news of my mission. Remember MC from the Union Square
branch? We visited her every week, she helped us find K, we spent
Christmas with her, and I called her every week on the VP when I left
the Union Square branch. Remember her? Well, she unexpectedly passed
away last Friday :( I just cried for a few minutes :( and then I felt
so happy for her. She was so limited here on earth. She always talked
about how she looked forward to the day when she could walk again,
hear again, and find a husband. I know she's doing all those things
right now hahah. I can't wait to meet her again in the Celestial
Kingdom and see her in her finally perfect body!! It will be a
beautiful day :,) SO grateful for a knowledge of the Plan of
Salvation!

Speaking of the Plan of Salvation, we taught the pre earth life to
F this week. I'm so happy it finally made sense to her. She
looked all confused, and then all of a sudden she got a HUGE smile on
her face and I knew she finally got it.❤️

Wednesday some cute members fed us salmon with PESTO. I had never even
thought to put pesto on salmon. It was heavenly! I love the members here.
I want to be like them.

We recently started teaching a less active members daughters. Their
dad is a congressman! The mom really wants them to get baptized and
the girls do too, so we are working on that :) The only problem is the
dad is kind of anti-Mormon, and they need his permission... But I know
that miracles will happen!

Thursday we did a lot of lookups in Mastic... And found some new
people! Yayyyyyyyyyyayayayayyaya. Finding new investigators is the
best. Sister Deuel and Seay we're pumped UP. Ahhh and on Saturday we
found the cutest little mom named T. I can't wait to see what
happens with her :) oh wait, I might not be here to see what happens,
so sad.

Friday and Sunday were pretty much deaf days. It's been so hard to get
the deaf people to church ahhhhh. The struggle is real since they are
all scattered among the island. We are meeting with the stake
president tomorrow to figure out a solution :)

Saturday is the day we were supposed to go to the temple with the
members who hadn't been before... But as always, Satan got in their
way and stopped them!  Seriously, he does NOT want our members to make
it to the temple. It just goes to show how important the temple is I
guess! No worries, we rescheduled and they WILL make it this time!

In other news the worst thing ever happened this week. If you know me
you know how much I don't love dogs. We share a house with a cute
young couple. They have a separate yard... But the landlord is doing
something with their yard, so they are now keeping their 3 HUGE
MONSTROUS dogs in our yard. Oh my. Every time we leave the apartment
is a leap of faith for me. I just sprint to the gate as quickly as
possible before they try to kill me! It's quite the comedy act for my
companions. They love laughing at my fear of dogs. On Sunday I didn't
go fast enough, and the tiger looking one tried to tear my dress off
of me.😑 Rude of him, I know. Pray for meeee.

I know my emails keep getting more and more boring as time goes by,
but let me tell you... The days keep getting BETTER AND BETTER. I'm
killing my companions hahah, I just have this "go, go, go, go, go, no
time to stop," mindset! The closer I get to the end the faster we are
sprinting :)))🏃🏻🏃🏻🏃🏻

I love ALL OF YOU.

Also... HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ABBY AND MY MOM. my two favorite people and
biggest role models.🎈🎈🎈🎈🎈💥🎎🎉🎊🎎🎎🎎✨🎏👑

-Sister Layton

Pics:
-last pday at fire island!
-we were matching :)))
-Sunday pics before church... I LOVE THEM so much. They are amazing
amazing amazing missionaries. They impress me, teach me, and make me
laugh everyday.
-we finished up sister deuels 12 week this week, so I made her a
graduation certificate lol.🎓 And now we we get to start right back at
week one for sister seay! Yayyyyyy I love 12 week. There is no better
way to get revelation for investigators than by doing 12 week role
plays!