Sister Matalyn Weaver

God is goed, that's all I have for this week :)) BUT we'll go into a little more depth: - We had interviews with my mission president and his wife this week!! SO good, I love them :) - I GOT MY CELLOOOOO it made me so happy - I'm part of a music video now with my cello, so that's taking up all our time this week. I've literally never arranged anything before so it kind of stretched my musical abilities. But I didn't realize how much I missed playing with other people 😭 there's this certainly feeling you only get playing music with other people. I haven't had that feeling this much my entire mission. It made me so happy. We were sitting there playing and I was just grinning because it felt so good to play with people again!! And to play the cello again. Ahhh. Just God is goed, dat is alles. - We've had lots of service with our members recently, which has been so good! I love them so much. I feel like I might be leaving at the transfer, which breaks m

Hallo iedereen!! Ik heb de sterkste verlang om deze hele email in Nederlands te schrijven--maar ik weet dat meestal van jullie zullen het niet begrijpen, dus ik zal het in Engels doen. Helaas lol :) - We had 5 meals with members this week!! I've never had that on my mission before. It was kind of amazing.  - We went with one of my favorite members to her patriarchal blessing!! It was amazing. Even being in the same house when she was getting it had the strongest spirit. :) and I just love her, so it's awesome haha :)) ...it included the best Chinese food I've ever had afterwards, so that was fun haha. I tried ginger ice cream and was pleasantly surprised!! - I made PB cookies out of 4 ingredients. They were good, probably won't try it again though. I've had better :/ 😂  - We went to two castles/museums last week for Pday!! It was way fun. - We had a lesson with our friend from last week! Her whole family was there which was awesome. ...but also her neighbor, who wa

Hallo iedereen! - We drove to Den Haag this week!! Instead of thinking things through, we accidentally added 4 hours onto our drving that day... Not the smartest decision, but the Lord's work gets done in spite of missionaries who don't always know what they're doing haha! 😅 - We had zone conference this week with Elder Kopischke from the seventy! We talked about the Book of Mormon and how important it is. It really has so much power!! If you haven't read it in a while, please go pick it up. Just one verse can change your day :) - I played a musical number in zone conference!! I normally go into musical numbers hoping they go perfectly. This one, I just went in with the desire to bring in the Spirit. That was it. And wow--I've never felt this way while playing a piece. It was really special and very spiritual. (And it still sounded really good, so that made me happy too ;) ) - We found THREE new people to teach this week!! That's a new record for me!!! One of o

Hoi iedereen!! This week was only 4 days. It still felt like a while haha! It's been a lot of fun! Thursday we went to Terschelling, one of the islands in our area, to give a lady a Book of Mormon she had requested!! We took a two hour ferry ride to this island so she could get her copy. Unfortunately, she wasn't home when we stopped by... We left it in her door, and spent the rest of our lunch and dinner hours exploring. We did weekly planning on the island too. We saw about as much as you could of it with only walking and one bus ride!  Friday we needed to go to Den Haag. Some other sisters were going to be there around the same time and wanted to go to lunch. I was all down for it, I just didn't have any money left. I had used all the missionary funds and needed to wait for the next refill. I had no desire to use my personal money, but I still wanted to eat. I said a prayer and asked Hemelse Vader to help me out. I didn't know how He would, I just knew He could. I or

Hallo jullie!! What a week :) ...yes, every week is like that, but still haha??  - We got a referral that wanted a Book of Mormon this week!! ...turns out they live on the islands that are in our area, so tomorrow we're taking the ferry to Terschelling to drop off a Book of Mormon ;D Missionary work can be a lot of fun sometimes haha!! - We had interviews with President and Zuster Watson!! The amount of love I feel from them is incredible. They love and support each missionary in the best way that they can. They're trying to help us all learn how to live our lives and do missionary work at the same time!! Not always an easy task haha :) We celebrated President's birthday with him too which was so fun!! - We did a ton of service this week! One of the YAs in our branch is painting his apartment so we helped with that, we weeded a garden, and we scraped paint off doorways. All the good stuff! - There was a huge volleyball tournament this weekend!! People come from miles around

Hallo iedereen!! I'm very happy to report that my migraine is gone!! I was out for a little while on Wednesday. The drive to district council took more out of me than I'd like to admit... But it was still an awesome week!! - We're still meet with one of my favorite people every week to help her build her house :)) I learn sooo much from her every time we go, and it's not just about construction! - We had a language study with a really sweet sister in our branch!! Best idea ever. I feel wayyyyy more edumacated in het nederlands now. Still a ways to go, haha, but I've been feeling pretty good about it recently!! (...which probably means in a few days I'll start feeling pretty bad about it. Humility, folks ;) ) - We're going to Schiermonnikoog today with our district!! It's a little island north of our area. We're taking the ferry and renting bikes and I'm SO excited!!! (We played ultimate frisbee on the beach, saw a few light houses, biked a lot, a

Hallo iedereen!! This week was a little crazy! We had zone conference on Thursday, which was amazing!! I was able to play the organ and the piano during it, which I loved. Music and the Spirit just go together :))  Friday afternoon I got a pretty bad migraine... which led to me sleeping all Friday afternoon. Saturday my comp had a really important visa appointment we COULD NOT miss, but I also could not drive 5 hours.... or even open my eyes still... so our sweet STLs drove an hour and a half to pick us up, took my dear comp to her appointment, had all sorts of exchanges with other sisters in the zone, all while I was back at their apartment continuing to sleep the day away. We weren't sure if we were going to make it home that night cuz I still couldn't drive. But miracles happened and prayers were answered cuz we spent that night in our OWN beds back in Leeuwarden! Sunday was mother's day (fijne moedersdag iedereen <3) maar helaas ik was nog steeds ziek and got banned

Hoi iedereen!! Ok so all I can say is the Lord knew tulips were my favorite flower before He assigned me to the Netherlands. Andddd we're going to the tulip fields today and I'm SO EXCITED there will be SO MANY pictures taken and I'm just living my absolute best life right now and I love tulips so this is the best day ever. 😁😁 So please enjoy the many photos from the tulip fields and our impromptu trip to the beach haha :)) Anyways! On to the rest of my week haha :) - it was koningsdag in the Netherlands!! Everyone wears as much orange as they can. Because it's the King's birthday and orange is the national color. Natuurlijk. Helaas, we missed the majority of the festivities because we had an orientation meeting and spent the day traveling. But I made myself a headband and got to see a ton of my favorite missionaries!! - We tried to go visit one of our less active members that lives on an island up north. We made it up to the ocean!! We couldn't get our card t

Hallo iedereen!! Another p day, another email from Zuster Weaver haha :) This week has been good!! A lot of hard parts, but such is life. Sometimes I think I've learned everything I possibly could about being a missionary or having a companion. But it doesn't take me too long to be humbled again... 😅 We had some awesome teaching moments this week!! We had an impromptu lesson with a less active member I've never met before. She told us she'd literally been thinking about the elders the day before, then suddenly we showed up on her porch!! God knows you so well and He knows just what you need :)) We gave our most progressing friend back to the Lord this week... the fact that I knew enough Dutch for that lesson to go well was solely from the gift of tongues. The spirit was definitely present and we all parted ways uplifted and on good terms!! We had exchanges, an IND appointment for visa stuff, lots of driving time, and just a good old party up here in Leeuwarden :) I dro

Hoi iedereen!! This week flew by, but it also crawled... haha :) There were a lot of ups and a lot of hard parts! But so it goes.  - I said bye to Z Lund this week... that was sad. But she's home now with her family, so that's happy:) - I saw Z Lay, my MTC comp!!!!!! She finally made it to Nederland and even though I'm not serving close to her yet, she's a lot closer now than we were before;) - I got my new comp!!! Z Medico is just out of training and we're ready to PARTY here in Nederland together.  - ...I translated for Sunday school at church!! Holy cow, the gift of tongues is real. It was wayyyy far from perfect, but she understood more than if I hadn't been doing anything!! I felt very accomplished and grateful for my studying and for the gift of tongues :)) - We went flower street contacting!! I was so proud of myself haha!! Between the two of us we have very little street contacting experience. But we did it!! And we met a lady who gave us her number and

Hoi Iedereen!! Another exciting week has come and gone!! Time flies so fast on a mission. Here are some of the highlights of this week!!  - We recorded audio and video for a music video!! It won't come out for another few weeks, but it was so fun to be a part of.  - ...we got rear ended..? There were no dents in our bumper, just a few marks on the paint. And very little damage to the other car!! Definitely a blessing that it wasn't worse. We spent an hour or so working on paper work. If you're ever planning on filling an accident form out in Dutch, be sure to have your Google translate handy. Even then you still might not know what's happening.   - We had a few amazing lessons with some less active members in our branch!! I love seeing the effect the Spirit has on people. They start wanting to change, to make something better of our lives!! It's so fun to be a part of :))  - I'm driving now! Driving in the Netherlands is a little different than both VA and UT. I

Hoi jullie!! This week was awesome. We went to the giant tulip festival in the Netherlands, called Keukenhof. It was AMAZING. I loved it. We did service that morning, we picked up trash on the way to the temple!! ...so I got to see the temple again, and it made my life :)) Then we spent 2 hours at Keukenhof and it was glorious. So pretty!! The next day it snowed... so that was good timing haha! I loved general conference too. It's one of my favorite weekends of the year!! We watched a session with our district which was fun. We ended up watching another with one of our favorite members who has started coming back to church. She told us afterwards that she probably would have turned it off had we not been there. The talks in that session had some heavier topics and it was clearly something she had needed to hear. I'm grateful we were able to do a little part of the Lord's work and help her hear some important things :) It's the last week of the transfer! I have a few ide

Hoi jullie!! Ok so I just love it here. I'm sitting om a bench in Amsterdam across the canal from the Anne Frank museum right outside a little Dutch bakery. I don't think it can get any better 😁 ...until I'm eating something from the little Dutch bakery 😉😂 This week was so good!! We had zone conference which was amazing. I'm getting to know a lot more missionaries here! I still miss my people in VA though. ❤ Zuster Lund and I played Savior, Redeemer of My Soul for zonecon, and it was amazing. I love playing music and feeling the spirit through it!  - I met one of my MTC teachers for the first time this week!! It was pretty fun.  - We went to the Book of Mormon musical playing in Amsterdam. We didn't see the musical haha, we stood outside afterwards and talked to people and answered questions. We all dressed up like elders so they'd recognize the sisters as missionaries! 😂  - I was able to watch my great-grandma's funeral this week too. I'm so gratefu

Hallo iedereen!! This week absolutely flew by. I don't even know what happened haha! But here's a few highlights: - I might be the branch pianist now lol? I accidentally ended up playing last week and they asked me to play again this week. But what's fun is the hymns are all in Dutch, so I don't know the hymn numbers anymore. The opening song was not one we have in English. So I totally sight read it during sacrament meeting and it went really well. Very grateful for that haha!! - We meet with Wieke, one of our less active members, every week. We had the most AMAZING lesson with her last night!! We taught the restoration and I think it's the most I've participated in any lesson so far in the Netherlands haha. I talked so much!! I used so much Dutch!!! The spirit was so strong and it was just the coolest. :)) - My comp and I are playing a musical number for ZoneCon tomorrow!! I'm SO excited. I love bringing the spirit through music :D Kind of random, but here

Hallo jullie!! Holy cow, where to start. This week has been absolutely crazy!! But so good. For the most part, haha. But really good!  - We had our first district council together!! It was fun. Some of it was in Dutch, which was good, but it low key made me that much more nervous to talk. But it was good cuz now I know my district better and I can tell it's going to be way fun!!  - Wij ging op een reuzenrad!!!!! Het was letterlijk het BESTE. I loved it. So much fun :))   - I've had turkish food twice now!! Kapsalon and turkish pizza. Super lekker, it was the best.  - We helped Petra build some of her house!!! It was so much fun. We built a wall :D As in we caulked it and scewed the boards in haha. Not to brag, but... she said we learned it faster and did it better than when the elders helped her... so, that was cool. 😂  - We had interviews with President and Sister Watson!! They're so cool. I miss the Crankshaws, but I know the Watsons are called to lead this mission and t

Hallo iedereen!! Holy wow, what a week. It's been absolutely insane. I could go on forever haha, but I'll try to keep this somewhat short and/or focused:  - Tuesday we had transfers, I got to say goodbye to so many amazing zendelingen in the Washington DC South mission. Kinda broke my heart. But so glad I got to say goodbye and had the chance to see everyone again!  - flew from Reagan to Boston, from Boston to Amsterdam. Landed Wednesday morning, got like 3 hours of sleep on the plane.  - met my collega, Zuster Lund!! She is SO cute!! She plays the violin and is also very musical, so we've bonded a lot over that :))  - not counting my 3 hours of sleep Tuesday night on the plane, I lasted over 36 hours without a nap (I think?). If I stopped paying attention to what I was doing, the floor would start to sway--not a good time hahaha  - I've had my first authentic Ducth pastries, oh my WORD they're DELICIOUS.  - I've already met two people who know the Roundys, my n

Hoi jullie!! Yep, the time has come... I never thought this day would be here. But suddenly, it came way too fast. I'm leaving for the Netherlands this week!! I fly out Tuesday afternoon and land in Amsterdam Wednesday morning. I'm so, so sad to leave this area, this mission, these people, this place. I love it SO much. But I know there will be just as many good people over there as I've found here!! A few highlights from this week! It's been an AMAZING week. :)  - Ian got BAPTIZED!!!!!! I was able to go and watch him make this sacred covenant. It made my heart so happy :))  - I got to see Sister Rogers and Sister Taylor at Ian's baptism!!!!! And so many of my YSA friends from that ward. It made me super happy too, I miss them!!  - Last district council... always a bittersweet moment.  - Last lunch with Sister Diamond and Sister Frelk... Many tears were shed.  - exit interviews at the mission home?? I swear I haven't been here long enough to have an exit intervi

Hoi iedereen!! We had a great week! We were out all day Tuesday, Wednesday was awesome with lunch with two of my favorite members and district council! We ended up going to the mission office after district council. Sis B hasn't been feeling well, so the mission nurse tested her for covid... she was positive! So we went home and spent a few days in quarantine. We had a few zoom meetings, which were good. Went on a few walks, a few drives. Survived. Quarantine as a missionary is not my favorite thing! I got a lot of journal writing done, which is good haha! We were out of quarantine by Sunday. Sunday was the best day of the week--mostly because we went to church, were out of quarantine, and had 3 member visits with 3 of our favorite families. Today we went to the mission office again and stopped at Olive Garden for lunch! I'm looking forward to an awesome, super busy, super productive week. :)) Fun stories from this week: - There are a few new senior couples at the mission offic

Hallo iedereen!! Man it's been crazy. So good, but so crazy. We had exchanges this week which was fun!! We had our district activity today and went to the Marine Corp museum. It was really cool!! Lots of good information haha :) We had a church tour with our friend Kenyetta!! Please pray for her that she'll be able to come to church!! And I get to go to Ian's baptism next week and I'm SO EXCITED!! Pray for him to that he'll stay on date! And pray for me that I'll be able to keep my head on... 😅 Ik hou van jullie!!!! Thank you so much for all your support and love and prayers, I love you all 🥰 The church is so true!!!!! The Lord watches out for you, physically, mentally, spiritually, emotionally, the whole deal. He can help you through anything life throws your way :) Frees niet, gewoon doen!! Tot ziens! Love, Z Weave  https://photos.app.goo.gl/GtGE9iPQShhT2FHn8

Hallo iedereen!! This week has been pretty interesting! It's been so good though :) I found out today my friend Ian, from my last area a few months ago, is on date to be baptized!! And I might be able to go!!!! I'm so excited :) and so excited for Ian!!! :)) I hope I can go and see him again!!  One thing I've been very grateful for this week is the comforting and guiding influence of the Holy Ghost! I usually think of Him more as a comfort. I forget that He can warn you when you're somewhere you shouldn't be or if something is about to happen. We had a few experiences this week where I was very grateful for His guidance and keeping us safe. Always listen to the Spirit!!  We stopped teaching one of our friends this week, which was pretty sad... She's leaning more on the temporal blessings of attending church than the spiritual blessings, and that's not what it's here for. But one of our friends from a few months ago met with us again and she's been re

 Hallo iedereen!! We were talking with our bishop this week, he was sharing his thoughts on church basketball... and he said there are no Christ-like attributes in church ball. That made me laugh pretty hard 😂😂 I know some people who will agree with me and some who definitely won't haha! But I totally agree with it 😂 This week was good!! We had zone conference, which was amazing as always. I love seeing other missionaries I've served with before!! One of the best parts of zonecon :) Our miracle friend from last week said he didn't want to be taught anymore, so that's been rough... but you just gotta keep pushing forward.  I had a bonus interview with my mission president and his wife this week! They gave me some amazing counsel. I'm very grateful for them and their leadership, and the love they have for each missionary they serve with :) I'm also so grateful for priesthood blessings!! I got one this week that gave me so much peace. Never hesitate to get a pri

Hallo iedereen!! I hope everyone is doing amazingly :) I'm doing well!! This week flew by. In a good way!! My trio is so much fun. We all get along really well and that's good :) Transfers went well, we've had a lot of member lessons this week. We had a referral come to church with us and he seems really interested, so please pray for Shamar! He's pretty leuk, hopefully our lesson with him this week goes well. Spiritual thought of the day: turning your heart over to the Lord and trusting in His will doesn't mean you won't worry! It's ok to worry about things. It's part of life. It doesn't mean you don't have faith. :) Ik hou van jullie!!! De kerk is waar!! Love, Zuster Weaver https://photos.app.goo.gl/GtGE9iPQShhT2FHn8

What a week!! It's been a little crazy. We had exchanges and interviews. I think I had a sinus infection... I have not been feeling too great, and I've been sleeping a LOT. 😅 But I'm doing better!! We got our booster shots this week too, so that knocked us out a little more. And transfer news!!! Sister Arnold and I are staying together in Lake Ridge (which makes me SO happy :D) and we're getting another sister!!!! It's trio time part two!!! I'm excited. A little nervous, but pretty excited :) If you put your mind to having a positive experience, then turn it over to the Lord, He will help you make it a positive experience!! I can promise that. :) when we ask Him for help and put in the work on our side, it all works out!  Ik hou van jullie!! De kerk is waar!!!! The Lord loves you and so do I! :) Love, Z Weave https://photos.app.goo.gl/nPCvVHyByQig3iKR8

Hallo iedereen!! I don't have a lot of time today. There's been so much that happened this week!! A quick snapshot: :D  - the fire alarm in our apartment building went off Tuesday morning at about midnight! We vacated the building, in our pajamas, and waited for about 30 minutes until the firemen cleared it so we could go back in and go back to bed.  - One of the member families we visited made an igloo out of all the snow in their yard! They let us go in it, and it was the COOLEST thing!!!  - Another member in my ward has an atlas of the world from Germany in 1823. There's a page with a map of the Netherlands!  - We were serving at an assisted living home. I got to play the piano for a good 45 minutes, then Elvis came and did a concert for us. Because it was his birthday. Weirdest mood change of my life, from playing "A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief" to some guy dressed up as Elvis singing love songs to everyone...  - We were cleared to do in-person missionary meet

Hallo iedereen!! Hoe gaat het met jullie?? Ik hoop dat iedereen een super goede nieuwjaar is hebben :) My week has been good! We spent a grand total of seven (7) hours getting covid tested on Tuesday... It was a long day haha... But the results were negative! So that's good! We got hit with some sort of weird fatigue bug, or something. Sis Arnold was exhausted for a few days, then I got it. We stayed in and took it a little slower until we were both back to full speed. If you don't feel good, you need to take time to feel better! I'm a big believer in that! For New Year's we got chickfila! And went to bed at 10:30, as we should :) We had a snow day today!! It snowed a good six to eight inches this morning. It definitely made my northern-Utah soul happy to get snow :)) I wish we could've had it for Christmas, but I'll take it when I can get it! We were grounded today so we aren't allowed to drive. (They don't get enough snow here for people to know how to