My Personal Mission

"You don't need to wear a little black name tag to be a missionary" I have heard that quote so many times growing up and I always thought, yea okay I guess that's true. But I never knew it to be true until I cam here.. to Grand Cayman, a small island approximately 2,830 miles away from home. My name is Alexa Weyland and I am a missionary.

I received the news about the opportunity Matt and I had to go to Grand Cayman about the time my younger sister had received her mission call. I joked that they were basically doing the same thing... She was about to open a paper that let her know where she would be serving the lord for the next 18 months of her life and I... well I was opening an email that told me where I would be working the next 6 months, and my choices were all tropical paradises..but basically the same thing right?

My sister would also get a variety of companions, some she would love instantly and others she would grow to love... I got to work side by side my companion, the one I chose and the one I married because I liked him that much. My sister would serve the Lord all day riding a bike and walking hundreds of miles... I would punch a clock 5 days a week from 9-5... BUT I would ride my bike to work! Same thing right? Ha okay not really

So how is it that working on this island has helped me see that I too can be a missionary? I will explain..

It's obvious to tourist that I am not from here.. could be the blonde hair, the no accent, or the fact that I am white. Which leads to the first question... where are you from? answer: Utah, their reply "Utah! Mormon county! Are you a little Mormon girl!?" At this point I know what happens next when I reply yes... 9/10 I will get yelled at, told I am an idiot and worship the wrong God... or that Mormons are not good people...

So why do I answer yes? I asked myself that and this was my reply "We will stand as witnesses of God at all times, in all things, and in all places" I repeated the YW theme every week, sometimes twice a week and it was stuck. I knew I had to answer YES I AM LDS with pride every time I was asked because that's what I knew to be true, and it was imprinted in my mind since I was 12 years old.

So what happens with that 1/10 that doesn't yell at me and get mad at me for being Mormon? They want to know more. They ask me what I believe and why every Mormon they have met is so nice, they are eager, and a seed is ready to be planted.

No, I don't wear a little black name tag, but I am a missionary, I stand as a witness of God at all times, in all things, and in all places. Because that 1 person is worth it.

an Island Christmas

Well... our first Christmas married and who would have guessed it would be spent on an island. The Christmas season didn't differ too much from Christmas back home.. except you know the whole white Christmas doesn't exactly exist and singing let it snow let it snow let it snow makes you look like a complete idiot other than that it's practically the same!

The day before Christmas almost all the shops stay open until 11 pm for those last minute shoppers (men) and the whole island shuts down for the next two days. Why two days you ask? Remember my first post when I told you about pirates week and how the island will celebrate ANYTHING... well they celebrate boxing day too... what is boxing day? I have no idea. Apparently it's a Canadian holiday, but it's another excuse to eat so yay boxing day!

Usually my favorite Christmas song is "baby it's cold outside" only this year it was more like "baby it's a heat wave outside!" We reached record highs this Christmas... I think it was like 92 or something? Hard to get into the Christmas spirit when you are more worried about avoiding heat exhaustion than what Santa brought you!

I have a lot of respect for the islanders here, there aren't many places to shop (I know it's torture!) other than perfume and jewelry are always available! So most people know they are getting for Christmas ahead of time. I am the spoiled girl from the states that lucked out with an awesome husband who got me a GoPro! When I told some of the islanders what a GoPro was and how it worked their reply was "Oh you mean that annoying thing on a stick tourist use" yea.. that thing! Good news Instagram followers (all like 300 of you) my pictures are about to get more interesting! (follow me @akayscoff!) haha joke. That is if I can get past the instructors manual... some things about Christmas will never change! Always getting cool toys and have to wait for Dad (or now husband) to read the instructions and put them together!

So that's pretty much it. I know you were expecting us to build sand man instead of snowman and have mini palm trees as Christmas trees instead of pine trees.. unfortunately sand man are actually A LOT harder to build than you'd think, and min palm trees... those don't exist here. Ha so it was a great Christmas in the sand and HUGE thanks to my parents who brought a whole carry on of gifts for us so we could have things to open on Christmas :)

Oh and on that note.. parents you brought Matt a swiss army knife... in your carry-on.. I guess wrapping paper blocks out the airport screens so you can pack anything when wrapped!

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!

November 13, 2014

We did it... and we lived. Officially the busiest day of the year (this far) was today and I am still breathing! Over 6 ships came into port today so ya know about 20,000 tourists! It was a fun day!

My favorite part about all the tourists is when they see me they immediately ask where I am from,I guess I don't speak like the rest of the islanders, oh and ya know I'm a different color. When I tell them I am from Utah I get the usual "white girl how'd you get out here" look. From then on out they call me Utah. It's my new nickname :)

I have found a few things that remind me of home! For example there are chickens constantly running around wild! They even know how to use the cross walks (no this is not a bad joke, it's the truth!). Another thing that reminds me of home is the pests that somehow always seem to find a way in your house. For example back home its box elder bugs.. well here it is lizzards! Those dang quick things always seem to find a way into my house! But I'll definitely take that over the 4-5 feet blue iguanas that are running around. Also back home there is this crazy white stuff called snow.. and it's EVERYWHERE well here we have crazy soft white sand.. and that gets everywhere as well.

As you can see it's hard to miss home when there are so many familiar things! (JK) Just wanted to give a quick update and let ya'll know things are going great here and we are still alive! I will update later! Tomorrow we are going snorkeling and Geoff (his name reminds me of a giraffe) has a go-pro so hopefully I can post some sweet photos next time! Much love!

Oh and instead of watching airplanes take off like the country song... we watch cruise ships! 

November 11, 2014

We have survived our first day... the Island life is MUCH different from Utah. Everyone here is always singing and dancing and they celebrate EVERYTHING this week is Pirates week... no I'm not kidding! It's a real thing! 

For pirate week they shut down the streets and sell island food, as well as shoot at a pirate ship when the sun sets, I asked a local why they celebrated pirates week and he said because it's tradition... and there's food. Worked for me. 

Probably the hardest adjustment is left is right and right wrong and it's a danger to be right. I'm talking about driving on the opposite side of the road, it still gives me a heart attack when we make a left hand turn and stay on the left hand side of the road. There "round abouts" are more like "death traps" but they seem to work... probably helps that there is only about 4 roads on the island total and when there is "traffic" it means everyone is on the main road and it's just a huge circle. Another crazy thing is people honk to say thank you! Two quick honks means thanks and a quick blinker to the person coming on the opposite road means "wassup". They also have these things called "give way" signs. They look exactly like a yield sign, and do the exact same thing as a yield sign, but DO NOT call them yield sings. Thankfully Matt and I have decided to buy bikes so we can avoid give way signs all together... and avoid any chance of us being right. 

The people here are crazy nice (everyone except the ladies who work in Cariloha I'll explain them later). People are always saying good morning, day, evening, and night. You have to walk with your head up to make sure you don't miss saying hi to someone! It's a lot different from Cali where ya kept your head down so the homeless didn't ask you for money. The ladies who work in Cariloha have worked there for about 9 years... they believe fully they own the place. The ladies are hard to understand, correction, everyone from the island is hard to understand. The manager (who is WAY nice, cool, and owns a yellow hummer) says they use to be way upbeat and fun but whatever fire they did have is out... He wants to fire them, but it's hard to find workers here on the island. One lady might get fired if she makes me cry. Her name is Andrea. She's just a hateful person and has made the past 2 intern girls cry, Geoff (manager name pronounced exactly like Jeff) says she kinda scares him but if she does make me cry she will probably be out of there. Although I don't see how she can make me cry... I don't understand a thing she says. 

The best part about the island (so far) is either the seafood or the beach... okay probably the beach. The water is so clear here! You can drop a quarter and watch it hit the ground! The sand is pure white and crazy soft! The reefs though.. not so soft! But I guess your feet get stronger as time goes on! hopefully!

That's all for now! There is MUCH still to tell (and we've only been here 24 hours) so I will email later this week!