Okay! What a crazy week. It feels like it's been forever since I've written because so much has changed.
On Tuesday we went to the transfer meeting and I got assigned to go to Sylmar (still in the San Fernando Valley) and my companion now is Hermana Tavoian. Like I said last week, Hermana Mulliner is training a new missionary back in Reseda and so last preparation day we tried to both work on packing my stuff and also decorating the apartment for the new missionary. I wrote notes on the mirrors. On my desk which will be hers I spelled out Bienvenida with twizzlers haha. I hope she liked it!
So about Hermana Tavoian...She is probably the kindest person you will ever meet. I'm kind of hoping some of her sweetness will work on rubbing off on me. She actually has the same exact time out on the mission as me. We were at the MTC together but we were in different districts because I was in intermediate Spanish and she was in beginners. When President Hall announced that we'd be companions at the transfer meeting he made a comment about how we were at the MTC at the same time that President and Sister Hall were, so we are all MTC buddies. But yeah, she is from Milad, Idaho and she was going to school in BYU-I (I think) for photography. She grew up on a ranch and loves potatoes. The chile here is a bit hot for her still (haha-- mom, how long did it take for you to become able to eat it?). Something random about her is that she keeps on popping out with random talents that you would never expect. She comes across as a kind of timid and shy person, but there was one time this week when she broke out and was beat boxing. I never would have expected it from her! She's really great!! Oh yeah, and this is still her first area. She's been here for quite a while, so her theory is that I'll be in this area with her for one transfer (and this transfer is only 5 weeks long, by the way) and then I'll be training a new missionary. We'll see if that ends up being the case.
Sylmar is in the farther Eastern side of the valley. It is a lot different than Reseda. First of all, we are a lot closer to the mountains. It has a lot less of a city feel than Reseda. Reseda basically was a full city, some parts of it being a little more ghetto than other parts. But it was absolutely city. Sylmar is much more rural. In fact, I was shocked when were were out here knocking on doors and (Doodle will be so jealous!) a horse came up and was walking along the side of the road. Evidently you'll see a lot of horses out on walks around here. There was a different time that we parked the car before a dinner appointment and there were a ton of chickens just hanging out on the sidewalk by where we parked. It is also a bit colder here than in Reseda. In Reseda we were basically getting to the point where we didn't really need our jackets most of the time. Here we still definitely need them. I'm guessing that's because we're closer to the mountains. The ward is really nice and working on becoming a missionary-work oriented ward. But I had kind of forgotten what it was like to walk into a ward and not recognize anyone. It feels a little weird. But I'll catch on pretty quick, I'm sure! Oh, but the mom of Antonio (the person quitting smoking to get baptized in Reseda's) wife actually lives in this ward. It was cool in Relief Society yesterday because when she said a comment in class, I knew immediately she was related to that woman in Reseda because they sound exactly the same. That got me to thinking...I think we're way more like our parents than we give credit for or we think.
My new district is fun too. The district leader is from Idaho Falls, Idaho and this is his first time being district leader, so I'm excited to see what his vision for the district will become. Another Elder has been out in this area for 4 transfers. Another Elder has been out on his mission for about 18 months in Venezuela (where he was originally born but he's lived in the states quite a bit of his life). He was serving there, but then he got a call saying that he can be a citizen of the US but that he'd have to come to the states before March (I think the story was something like that), so he was reassigned to our mission for the last 6 months of his mission.
It was crazy that this past week Hermana Tavoian and I passed our 9 month mark. That is seriously so crazy to think about. That is our halfway point. I'm just excited to keep on working hard because I've heard that the last half goes by too fast and I don't want to lose a single moment!!
I guess a quick spiritual thought before I take off. I was reading in 2 Nephi 28 and that is such a great chapter!! It is a chapter about the apostasy, but it started listing all the tricks that Satan will use to bring people into apostasy (whether that is apostasy of an entire nation or even personal apostasy). I figure that when we know what the tricks of Satan are, we can start working to combat them personally so that we never fall into apostasy. There were so many that I found--like 20 more or less, but they are important. For a few examples, in verse 2 you learn that Satan would have you believe that the work you're doing is in vain and that nothing will come out of it. That is absolutely not true! For example, the fact that we have the Book of Mormon today is only because those prophets had the hope that one day their words would be of use to the children of men. That is just one small example. But yeah, we went knocking for a few hours the day I read that chapter and in each house that rejected us (there were many of them... and btw, you get to see the weirdest people by knocking! I don't know how we find such weird people!) and in so many situations I could see exactly which of the tools Satan was using to keep that person in their own states of personal apostasy. Crazy how cool the scriptures are and how much you can learn all the time!
Anyway, I'd better take off now. We're going to go to get frozen yogurt or cold stones or something to celebrate both of us having hit our 9 month mark. woohoo!!
Have a great day! and may the spirit be with you!
~Hermana Whetten
Monday, February 25, 2013
Monday, February 18,2013
Hey!! So I didn't realize that my e-mail from last week didn't send until it said so in mom's e-mail that I read just now. So sorry! I looked under my "sent mail" portion of the mailbox and I guess when I typed whetten in it selected the wrong whetten so I sent it to my own gmail mailbox. Oops! I'll be more careful in the future. Sorry to make you worry!! Here is the letter from last week and I'll start writing my letter for this week now!
Hello again! Evidently it is a holiday, so I hope you are all having a fun and relaxing day.
First of all, thanks so much for all the birthday wishes and the birthday package too! It really ended up being such a special day. I laughed so hard when I got that piece of cake in the mail from Shaun and Sarah. Did you make that cake or did you buy it? It looks so great! We definitely enjoyed our little trip to Coldstones. Thanks so much! The package was also great. The shoes are comfy, the shirt is cute, the movies are so helpful both for language study and for possible future lessons. You are all so great. Mom, haha sorry I made you feel bad about all the candy in there. I think I'll just keep some in my backpack to share with the kids at church and when we visit them in their houses. Plus, Hermana Mulliner taught me this really cute game about listening to the spirit that is perfect for little kids for family home evenings etc where I can use the skittles and starbursts. So no problem, I will put the candy to good use and now I don't have to buy any for those things!! Basically thanks so much for everything! I loved it all!!
Hermana Mulliner also surprised me quite a bit. I got up and there were cute little post it notes all around the apartment saying super nice things, and funny inside jokes from our time together, and also telling me how 21 year olds aren't allowed etc. They were super cute. She also surprised me that she had a present for me that I didn't even know. She's evidently been working on it for a month or so and every time I go to the bathroom or take a shower she's been sneakily working on little arts and crafts to make me a ton of the object lessons and lesson idea things that she has used in the past that she knew I didn't have. It surprised me so much because I didn't expect anything from her since I'm with her 24/7.
Another thing is I got sick for a day or two this week. Not with anything major, just a little head cold. But I received my first blessing for being sick from the elders. Before my mission I didn't really like getting blessings because that meant that I was needy or something. Basically, I think I had pride. But on my mission I've realized that blessings really are exactly that... they aren't anything you need to be ashamed of. They are there to bless you and it is here because God loves us so much. Christ healed not only people's blindness and lepracy, but he also healed all other afflictions whether they were simple sicknesses or people's emotional needs. And the priesthood is here to bless us not to be a burden. But yeah, it was really cool being able to receive one. Hermana Mulliner took notes and I also wrote down some things I remembered afterwards and it is so cool. I love what it says and it was cool about how much of it is stuff Hermana Mulliner and I have been focusing on lately as a companionship. He also talked a lot about charity which I think is so cool because the next day at the special sister's conference that is everything we talked about all day.
That sister conference was so special!! They held it on Valentine's day and Sister Hall did most of the teaching all day which was really cool. She focused her whole day on the scripture in Moroni 7:45. That is the scripture that talks about everything that charity is and is not. So we went through every single one of those one by one. She used many Mormon messages and she told many stories and we had many great discussions. Charity is seriously so wonderful. I really feel like I will be working on developing a better charity all the rest of my life but as I develop charity and define my life by it, I will have lived a very successful life. Charity is also the key to joy. Joy is a very specific thing when the scriptures talk about it. It is cheerfulness, delight, gladness, happiness, and pleasure, but it is only possible to receive true joy by knowing you're living life in accordance to how God would have you live. As we begin to turn outward rather than inward, that Joy becomes tangible and abundant. And when I asked myself how God feels about all of this - about myself and charity - and reread through my patriarchal blessing it became so extremely clear that that is the life He wants me to live. Charity is hard to develop because it is taking absolutely everything about the natural man and living the exact opposite. But it is so good! I am also so grateful of your examples of charity. The story of the coins and the story of buying a large set of scriptures for the older woman in the ward are so inspiring to me. Thank you for including those in your letters and as you continue to be charitable let me know all about it!!
Okay, last big thing for this week is yesterday I got the call and I will be leaving Reseda. I know absolutely nothing about where I'll end up until tomorrow at the transfer meeting. I only know that I'm out of here and that I'll still be in a car area. So basically what that means for you is in your letters for me this week send them to the mission office and then next Monday I can e-mail you what my apartment address is. I am sad to be leaving Reseda. It has been so wonderful. I definitely feel quite a bit sad because I love the people here so much. But I know that the Lord is directing my life. As I look at the people I've met and the experiences I've had I know that the Lord's hand has been in it to little by little shape me more and more into the person he wants me to be. So I have faith in him that he is directing President Hall to receive the revelation for what the Lord knows I need. So it doesn't matter to me where I go or who is my future companion. I know it will be exactly what I need. I know that I have done good in Reseda and that good things will keep on coming.
The other thing is we just received a call and Hermana Mulliner will be training next transfer! I am so excited for her! She is full of love and she will be so great as a trainer because she is obedient and Christ like!
Anyway, that's about all for now. This week will be full of changes and I have faith and hope that it will all be for the good! This coming transfer will also be a 5 week transfer. Instead of changing the MTC (since they are shortening everyone's schedule at the MTC) they are changing the missions in different ways and our mission was affected by a one time one week shorter transfer.
So yeah, have a wonderful week and I'll talk to you again later!!
~Hermana Whetten
Hello again! Evidently it is a holiday, so I hope you are all having a fun and relaxing day.
First of all, thanks so much for all the birthday wishes and the birthday package too! It really ended up being such a special day. I laughed so hard when I got that piece of cake in the mail from Shaun and Sarah. Did you make that cake or did you buy it? It looks so great! We definitely enjoyed our little trip to Coldstones. Thanks so much! The package was also great. The shoes are comfy, the shirt is cute, the movies are so helpful both for language study and for possible future lessons. You are all so great. Mom, haha sorry I made you feel bad about all the candy in there. I think I'll just keep some in my backpack to share with the kids at church and when we visit them in their houses. Plus, Hermana Mulliner taught me this really cute game about listening to the spirit that is perfect for little kids for family home evenings etc where I can use the skittles and starbursts. So no problem, I will put the candy to good use and now I don't have to buy any for those things!! Basically thanks so much for everything! I loved it all!!
Hermana Mulliner also surprised me quite a bit. I got up and there were cute little post it notes all around the apartment saying super nice things, and funny inside jokes from our time together, and also telling me how 21 year olds aren't allowed etc. They were super cute. She also surprised me that she had a present for me that I didn't even know. She's evidently been working on it for a month or so and every time I go to the bathroom or take a shower she's been sneakily working on little arts and crafts to make me a ton of the object lessons and lesson idea things that she has used in the past that she knew I didn't have. It surprised me so much because I didn't expect anything from her since I'm with her 24/7.
Another thing is I got sick for a day or two this week. Not with anything major, just a little head cold. But I received my first blessing for being sick from the elders. Before my mission I didn't really like getting blessings because that meant that I was needy or something. Basically, I think I had pride. But on my mission I've realized that blessings really are exactly that... they aren't anything you need to be ashamed of. They are there to bless you and it is here because God loves us so much. Christ healed not only people's blindness and lepracy, but he also healed all other afflictions whether they were simple sicknesses or people's emotional needs. And the priesthood is here to bless us not to be a burden. But yeah, it was really cool being able to receive one. Hermana Mulliner took notes and I also wrote down some things I remembered afterwards and it is so cool. I love what it says and it was cool about how much of it is stuff Hermana Mulliner and I have been focusing on lately as a companionship. He also talked a lot about charity which I think is so cool because the next day at the special sister's conference that is everything we talked about all day.
That sister conference was so special!! They held it on Valentine's day and Sister Hall did most of the teaching all day which was really cool. She focused her whole day on the scripture in Moroni 7:45. That is the scripture that talks about everything that charity is and is not. So we went through every single one of those one by one. She used many Mormon messages and she told many stories and we had many great discussions. Charity is seriously so wonderful. I really feel like I will be working on developing a better charity all the rest of my life but as I develop charity and define my life by it, I will have lived a very successful life. Charity is also the key to joy. Joy is a very specific thing when the scriptures talk about it. It is cheerfulness, delight, gladness, happiness, and pleasure, but it is only possible to receive true joy by knowing you're living life in accordance to how God would have you live. As we begin to turn outward rather than inward, that Joy becomes tangible and abundant. And when I asked myself how God feels about all of this - about myself and charity - and reread through my patriarchal blessing it became so extremely clear that that is the life He wants me to live. Charity is hard to develop because it is taking absolutely everything about the natural man and living the exact opposite. But it is so good! I am also so grateful of your examples of charity. The story of the coins and the story of buying a large set of scriptures for the older woman in the ward are so inspiring to me. Thank you for including those in your letters and as you continue to be charitable let me know all about it!!
Okay, last big thing for this week is yesterday I got the call and I will be leaving Reseda. I know absolutely nothing about where I'll end up until tomorrow at the transfer meeting. I only know that I'm out of here and that I'll still be in a car area. So basically what that means for you is in your letters for me this week send them to the mission office and then next Monday I can e-mail you what my apartment address is. I am sad to be leaving Reseda. It has been so wonderful. I definitely feel quite a bit sad because I love the people here so much. But I know that the Lord is directing my life. As I look at the people I've met and the experiences I've had I know that the Lord's hand has been in it to little by little shape me more and more into the person he wants me to be. So I have faith in him that he is directing President Hall to receive the revelation for what the Lord knows I need. So it doesn't matter to me where I go or who is my future companion. I know it will be exactly what I need. I know that I have done good in Reseda and that good things will keep on coming.
The other thing is we just received a call and Hermana Mulliner will be training next transfer! I am so excited for her! She is full of love and she will be so great as a trainer because she is obedient and Christ like!
Anyway, that's about all for now. This week will be full of changes and I have faith and hope that it will all be for the good! This coming transfer will also be a 5 week transfer. Instead of changing the MTC (since they are shortening everyone's schedule at the MTC) they are changing the missions in different ways and our mission was affected by a one time one week shorter transfer.
So yeah, have a wonderful week and I'll talk to you again later!!
~Hermana Whetten
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Monday, February 11, 2013
Thanks for the happy birthday wishes!! They really meant so much to me. It'll be weird having a birthday out here on the mission, but I'm sure it will be good with memories.
So here is a crazy cool update on the state of missionary work from Ryan:
"Did you know that there are more sisters with calls in their hand right now than there are sisters serving in the field? How crazy is that. There is one mission that i heard of that is going from 12 sisters to 120!!" That is so great! I heard that within the next two transers we'll be getting quite a few hermanas and every time I've heard the exact number it's gone up so we'll have to see haha! It will be so good and I feel like the president is preparing the mission for the abundance of people coming in by helping us build our faith, our obedience, our diligence, et cetera.
So all of January we couldn't get anyone to accept a baptismal date, but now we have two. The lesson last Monday with Antonio was so spiritual and the Mormon Message was exactly what he needed to bring in the spirit and help him know that he doesn't have to know everything, he knows enough. The message we used was "Choose ye this day" and I love the line in there that saying 'maybe tomorrow' really just means not today. Our spirits feel these truths because they knew the truths before we came to Earth. The other baptismal date was Jorge who was referred to us by an investigator. He has a lot of doubts but has the desire to listen and learn patiently. He also made it to church yesterday. He tried to come by bus last week, but he missed one bus and so by the time he got there he was ashamed to walk in so late.
The big news of our ward... we finally got a bishop after like four months without!!!!! The new bishop is pretty young, like 35 years old. He actually kind of reminds me of Shaun because he has that huge stature and is strict with rules but knows how to have fun with the youth. We're excited for investigators to meet him because he has a fun and pretty social personality. After church we came home and made him and his family some cinnimon rolls (from a can haha!) and dropped them off. It really meant a lot to them. He told us how the whole day was just kind of like a dream and how embarrassing it was to have to stand in front of everyone and when people kept introducing him as bishop. We were able to comfort him quite a bit and let him know that we know that callings are made before this earth so we know that he has been prepared for this both before this life and also during. We also helped him know that he holds the keys for missionary work in the ward and so we are here for him in anything he needs. We really felt like that helped a lot to start this ward off on a great foot with missionary work with the new bishop and to help him trust the missionaries more.
Okay, one random thought I have is that I'm still working on reading through all the general conference talks from October and the one I read through last week was the one in the priesthood session when Elder Eyring talked about the boards he made for each of his sons to help them know their spiritual gifts. I was trying to think about what would go on my board (and I'd be curious to know what other people like maybe mom or dad would put on mine). And I didn't have a lot of time to search for the perfect scripture or anything, but one good scripture that I found was Doctrine and Covenants 100: 15-16.
It says "Let your hearts be comforted; for all things shall work together for the good of them that walk uprighty..." (it's kind of like yoga. You don't need to stress. You have the power to bring your life into balance spiritually, mentally, physically, and emotionally no matter what your situation is. And that is possibly by the hope that is brought about by Christ) ..."and to the sanctification of the church" (I love that word sanctification. That gives us hope that we can become better in each of the four aspects of our life every day. Our past doesn't define us and our future is still open. We can move forward more clean because of Christ) ..."For I will raise up" (I love the image of raising up. Not only are we literally children of a god being raised up to eventually become like our father. But that is also like rock climbing. You're raising yourself up to a higher level through your good works.) ..."unto myself a pure people that will serve me in righteousness..." (there is a phrase in my patriarchal blessing repeated at least 3 or 4 times about how 'because of your obedience and desire to serve him so I love that last phrase) I think it was kind of fun to find a scripture for me. If any of you feel inspired to find your own scripture too, I'd love to hear what you found and why!!
Okay... now the part that I think is the coolest. Okay, Hermana Mulliner was sick again this week (that's not the cool par). But she was really getting down quite a bit because she felt that here in this companionship when she was exercising the best and eating the healthiest of her whole mission she has gotten sick so many times. (and like I still haven't gotten sick in California except for the one time I had symptoms of food poisoning after a ward party but that doesn't really count and it only lasted for one day for me) So she was down about that and so we started researching the word of wisdom this week and we've found out so much stuff. We've gone pretty deep and we're still so excited to study it so much more. Like that took up the majority of our lunch discussions and a lot of comp study and personal study. We learned so much and we're excited to keep on learning more on it. I don't have too much time to write it all out, but I'll share a bit. Doctrine and Covenants 89:3 talks about how section 89 is for the weak and the weakest of the saints. Therefore, if we aren't the weakest of the saints (and I definitely don't think I am) we need to be living a much higher law than Doctrine and Covenants 89. In the church we have this perception that we are living the word of wisdom when we don't take the five things into our bodies (alcohol, smoking, illegal drugs, coffee, tea) but there is so much more to the word of wisdom than that! The thing is that we can't be dictated in all things on health because each person is so different and that is important because each soul is different. But if you look at the heading of section 89, it shows a pattern. Joseph Smith saw a problem, so he pondered on it and took it to the Lord and received revelation as the answer. That is how everyone should be treating their bodies. You should really practice mindfulness and start to notice how your body reacts to certain things then receive revelation about what you need. In this way, I believe everyone has a personal word of wisdom, a higher word of wisdom, that they should be learning about and constantly refining and developing throughout their lives. Many factor can determine this word of wisdom. For instance:
-family history. I have an uncle who died of colon cancer. Therefore, I may have genes that make me more likely to develop colon cancer. Therefore, I should take extra special care of my intestines by eating a ton of fiber and drinking a lot of water.
-notice how certain things make your body feel or possible things that make you have less control over your body that are borderline addictions for you. For instance, I don't have much control over my body with candy. I get candy and I have to eat it all. I know that I don't like how I feel when I eat candy. I want to taste it but I don't want to eat it. And when I get candy I don't want it in my body, so I always decide to eat it all at once so that I don't have to keep on eating it over time. That for me shows me that I really should not be eating candy or many sweets because that for me personally affects me a lot and makes my body have more control than the spirit. The whole purpose of the word of wisdom is so that the spirit can learn control and so that you can receive revelation, "even great treasures" of knowledge and wisdom.
-read your patriarchal blessing looking specifically for things that may relate to the word of wisdom. I always thought mine had only one part that related to the word of wisdom, but last night I found at least two other sections in the first half of it. That is one way for the Lord to guide you because that is his personal mini manual for you specifically.
-notice what you need and how much. Like I've been learning that in order to be happy I have to have good intense exercise that is fun for me. I also need to keep stretching to help relax my mind. I need 8 hours of sleep and not more or less.
I don't have too much time to share more, but I've been learning so much reading through section 89, reading through other sources like For the Strength of Youth, True to the Faith, the topical guide, et cetera. There is so much out there and I love it!!!
I hope you all feel a little inspired by that. Hermana Mulliner and I feel like we should write a book on all of this because we are loving researching it and it is so good!!!
Well have a good week!!
And may the spirit be with you!!
~Hermana Whetten
So here is a crazy cool update on the state of missionary work from Ryan:
"Did you know that there are more sisters with calls in their hand right now than there are sisters serving in the field? How crazy is that. There is one mission that i heard of that is going from 12 sisters to 120!!" That is so great! I heard that within the next two transers we'll be getting quite a few hermanas and every time I've heard the exact number it's gone up so we'll have to see haha! It will be so good and I feel like the president is preparing the mission for the abundance of people coming in by helping us build our faith, our obedience, our diligence, et cetera.
So all of January we couldn't get anyone to accept a baptismal date, but now we have two. The lesson last Monday with Antonio was so spiritual and the Mormon Message was exactly what he needed to bring in the spirit and help him know that he doesn't have to know everything, he knows enough. The message we used was "Choose ye this day" and I love the line in there that saying 'maybe tomorrow' really just means not today. Our spirits feel these truths because they knew the truths before we came to Earth. The other baptismal date was Jorge who was referred to us by an investigator. He has a lot of doubts but has the desire to listen and learn patiently. He also made it to church yesterday. He tried to come by bus last week, but he missed one bus and so by the time he got there he was ashamed to walk in so late.
The big news of our ward... we finally got a bishop after like four months without!!!!! The new bishop is pretty young, like 35 years old. He actually kind of reminds me of Shaun because he has that huge stature and is strict with rules but knows how to have fun with the youth. We're excited for investigators to meet him because he has a fun and pretty social personality. After church we came home and made him and his family some cinnimon rolls (from a can haha!) and dropped them off. It really meant a lot to them. He told us how the whole day was just kind of like a dream and how embarrassing it was to have to stand in front of everyone and when people kept introducing him as bishop. We were able to comfort him quite a bit and let him know that we know that callings are made before this earth so we know that he has been prepared for this both before this life and also during. We also helped him know that he holds the keys for missionary work in the ward and so we are here for him in anything he needs. We really felt like that helped a lot to start this ward off on a great foot with missionary work with the new bishop and to help him trust the missionaries more.
Okay, one random thought I have is that I'm still working on reading through all the general conference talks from October and the one I read through last week was the one in the priesthood session when Elder Eyring talked about the boards he made for each of his sons to help them know their spiritual gifts. I was trying to think about what would go on my board (and I'd be curious to know what other people like maybe mom or dad would put on mine). And I didn't have a lot of time to search for the perfect scripture or anything, but one good scripture that I found was Doctrine and Covenants 100: 15-16.
It says "Let your hearts be comforted; for all things shall work together for the good of them that walk uprighty..." (it's kind of like yoga. You don't need to stress. You have the power to bring your life into balance spiritually, mentally, physically, and emotionally no matter what your situation is. And that is possibly by the hope that is brought about by Christ) ..."and to the sanctification of the church" (I love that word sanctification. That gives us hope that we can become better in each of the four aspects of our life every day. Our past doesn't define us and our future is still open. We can move forward more clean because of Christ) ..."For I will raise up" (I love the image of raising up. Not only are we literally children of a god being raised up to eventually become like our father. But that is also like rock climbing. You're raising yourself up to a higher level through your good works.) ..."unto myself a pure people that will serve me in righteousness..." (there is a phrase in my patriarchal blessing repeated at least 3 or 4 times about how 'because of your obedience and desire to serve him so I love that last phrase) I think it was kind of fun to find a scripture for me. If any of you feel inspired to find your own scripture too, I'd love to hear what you found and why!!
Okay... now the part that I think is the coolest. Okay, Hermana Mulliner was sick again this week (that's not the cool par). But she was really getting down quite a bit because she felt that here in this companionship when she was exercising the best and eating the healthiest of her whole mission she has gotten sick so many times. (and like I still haven't gotten sick in California except for the one time I had symptoms of food poisoning after a ward party but that doesn't really count and it only lasted for one day for me) So she was down about that and so we started researching the word of wisdom this week and we've found out so much stuff. We've gone pretty deep and we're still so excited to study it so much more. Like that took up the majority of our lunch discussions and a lot of comp study and personal study. We learned so much and we're excited to keep on learning more on it. I don't have too much time to write it all out, but I'll share a bit. Doctrine and Covenants 89:3 talks about how section 89 is for the weak and the weakest of the saints. Therefore, if we aren't the weakest of the saints (and I definitely don't think I am) we need to be living a much higher law than Doctrine and Covenants 89. In the church we have this perception that we are living the word of wisdom when we don't take the five things into our bodies (alcohol, smoking, illegal drugs, coffee, tea) but there is so much more to the word of wisdom than that! The thing is that we can't be dictated in all things on health because each person is so different and that is important because each soul is different. But if you look at the heading of section 89, it shows a pattern. Joseph Smith saw a problem, so he pondered on it and took it to the Lord and received revelation as the answer. That is how everyone should be treating their bodies. You should really practice mindfulness and start to notice how your body reacts to certain things then receive revelation about what you need. In this way, I believe everyone has a personal word of wisdom, a higher word of wisdom, that they should be learning about and constantly refining and developing throughout their lives. Many factor can determine this word of wisdom. For instance:
-family history. I have an uncle who died of colon cancer. Therefore, I may have genes that make me more likely to develop colon cancer. Therefore, I should take extra special care of my intestines by eating a ton of fiber and drinking a lot of water.
-notice how certain things make your body feel or possible things that make you have less control over your body that are borderline addictions for you. For instance, I don't have much control over my body with candy. I get candy and I have to eat it all. I know that I don't like how I feel when I eat candy. I want to taste it but I don't want to eat it. And when I get candy I don't want it in my body, so I always decide to eat it all at once so that I don't have to keep on eating it over time. That for me shows me that I really should not be eating candy or many sweets because that for me personally affects me a lot and makes my body have more control than the spirit. The whole purpose of the word of wisdom is so that the spirit can learn control and so that you can receive revelation, "even great treasures" of knowledge and wisdom.
-read your patriarchal blessing looking specifically for things that may relate to the word of wisdom. I always thought mine had only one part that related to the word of wisdom, but last night I found at least two other sections in the first half of it. That is one way for the Lord to guide you because that is his personal mini manual for you specifically.
-notice what you need and how much. Like I've been learning that in order to be happy I have to have good intense exercise that is fun for me. I also need to keep stretching to help relax my mind. I need 8 hours of sleep and not more or less.
I don't have too much time to share more, but I've been learning so much reading through section 89, reading through other sources like For the Strength of Youth, True to the Faith, the topical guide, et cetera. There is so much out there and I love it!!!
I hope you all feel a little inspired by that. Hermana Mulliner and I feel like we should write a book on all of this because we are loving researching it and it is so good!!!
Well have a good week!!
And may the spirit be with you!!
~Hermana Whetten
Monday, February 4, 2013
Monday, February 4, 2013
Okay! This week was pretty full of stuff to do, things that happened, service rendered etc.
First of all, thanks for the birthday present! It came in the mail on Saturday. I was going to wait until my birthday to open it, but last night we were planning a lesson for one of our investigators, Antonio and how we can help him have a goal of a baptismal date. We decided that we would watch a specific Mormon message with him to help bring in the spirit and so we were about to call the Elders in our district to ask if they had the Mormon message DVDs but then I realized that my package might actually have them. So I opened it up. Thanks so much!!! They are already going to come in so handy. I am also so excited for the object lesson book!!! We have been doing a ton of family home evenings lately, so this will really help us a ton! I am so excited. Hna Mulliner just kept saying, "wow! That is such a good package!" You're the best.
Antonio is doing really well, by the way. Hermana Hansen and I had been teaching him for months and he didn't come to church for the whole time we were together and then he basically told us he wasn't going to be able to in December because he was working every Sunday for the holiday season. So we ended up dropping him for a month or so and then picking him back up in January and he has been coming to church every Sunday for a month straight now!! He is progressing so much! He just loves us too. He and his wife have pretty much decided we're part of the family now and they are already talking about how we should all come back for a camping trip after the mission because I guess they really love doing those often and he was talking about how he loves to play the guitar for those. He is really working on quitting smoking and he will hopefully get baptized soon. But we really want to set that date with him tonight to help give him the added inspiration to quit for good.
Some other random things that happened this week...
We finally decided to bless our apartment and it was really cool. The spirit was very strong afterward!
We are really learning how important visiting teaching is. Our area has about 50-60 families and probably almost half of them are less active, We also found out that according to the records, 0% of the members are doing visiting teaching. Either that is true or if there is visiting teaching being done, they are not recording it. But we can definitely feel it. The members always are getting onto us about how this person or that isn't coming to church but we have so many people to juggle and really our main purpose is the 3.5 million people in the mission boundaries who are not members. But we are basically also having to do the visiting teaching for the ward single-handedly. In other words, please do your visiting teaching! It really does matter. Most people just need an invitation and a friend and they'll come back and it really helps the missionaries a lot!!! (especially in Hispanic work where the majority are recent converts themselves and so they all feel like they depend on the missionaries)
Also, Hermana Yengle (the one with the son Ethan who was born super early) had a baby shower put on by the ward and so we got to go to that for her. Earlier in the week we also got to help one of the less active members work on a ton of little decorations for the baby shower which was really fun. And the baby shower turned out so great! Tons of the members showed up to support her and she was crying at one point because she didn't expect so many people to come and she just felt so loved.
Oh, and I have to tell you about this terrible family home evening that ended up happening this week. So with the young single adult branch we have a family home evening every Tuesday and each week it changes who is in charge. Hermana Mulliner and I took the missionary's turn in December, so the Elders told us that they would do their turn this past week. It felt like something that you'd see on a movie because it ended up so comically bad and they were like oblivious to it all. They thought everyone was thinking it was really cool but we were really all super worried. So the Elders decided to do a lesson on the Gospel of Jesus Christ which is Faith, Repentance, Baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End. They wanted to do an object lesson and they thought they were so brilliant that they came up with this one idea on their own. So they took this rod and said that we all need to have faith then they could turn it into gold. Then they took some red dye and rubbed it all over it and put it in a a container and poured bleach to get the red off. That was supposed to represent the Isaiah scripture on sins red turning white as snow and thus Repentance and Baptism. So far so good. Well they decided that it wasn't turning white fast enough so they poured more bleach and got it all over the table (we were so worried that it would ruin the nice wood table but luckily that didn't happen) but some of the bleach got onto their scriptures and so one of them just wiped the bleach off his scriputures with the back of his tie!!! (who does that!?!) Then they pulled these huge pliers out of their pocket and a blow torch out of their backpack and proceeded to burn the bar (the idea being to get the outer coating off). The fire was supposed to represent the holy ghost. They held it over the bleach container so that any chips that fall off can just go into the container. But they held it way too close and the container started burning. Then they acted like nothing happened it kept on burning the bar for like a minute straight. By then there were bleach fumes galore in that room and it smelled quite bad. But then they pulled out a water bottle because the last step is to pour water to get a gold colored coating (which is actually brass--not gold) and they poured the water over it into the little burnt container which then overfilled and poured even more onto the table. They were so proud of themselves that they had created "gold" and had such a great idea and they were like oblivious to us all. They thought our reaction was amazement not worry! Oh man! I wish that had been recorded! But I had to share that story because it was so crazy!!!
Anyway, I also wanted to share about my experience yesterday at church. The ward had managed to offend the elder who was playing piano and so he asked me if I'd take over playing for sacrament. As missionaries, we're not allowed to have instruments and we have 0 time to practice, so I literally had to go up there and then just play haha. oh what fun. Two of the songs were in the simplified hymnbook that I borrowed, but the sacrament one was not. It also happened to be in a key with 3 flats. Oh great, I was thinking! I decided that they would get what they got and I only played the top note. But it ended up being really funny. In the first few notes I was fumbling through to try to even get a melody and I accidentally ended up changing the key to something that was slightly higher but easier with only one sharp or flat. But then the key was off from the music. So I just had to kind of look at the music for how big the jumps were but then just kind of play by ear. it didn't turn out too badly haha! I am definitely not good at the piano and it was full of mistakes throughout all the pieces, but I'm all they have haha! I guess the good thing is I would usually get a hang of it, so by the 4th time through it wasn't too bad. The funny part, though, is that I'd be playing them and Hispanics don't know how to follow piano, so I'd have to periodically pause for like 2 full seconds for the congregation to catch up to me. and then really plunk out the melody so they could follow. It really is a unique and funny experience playing for them haha!
Okay, for a quick thought I've been thinking about this week. Sometimes we measure our success too much by looking inward or outward when we really should be looking upward. A lot of times there is a problem with people becoming offended because they feel like they're giving it their all and then someone comes up and says they're not doing good enough or something like that. Or you put too much stress on yourself trying to get yourself to measure up to what others are doing. That isn't how it should be. God sent us here to serve with all of our heart, might, mind, and strength. That means that the amount someone can give or do is different for everyone. There will always be someone better than us in anything we do in life whether it be learning a language, or in your physical ablilities, or what grade you get at school. Someone in the world is always going to be better at us. But that shouldn't make us shrink away from developing our talents. When we look upward and really know that heaven has accepted our offering, no matter how big or small, then you know you have lived successfully.
Also, a thought that really has helped me: 'always do what you're afraid to do'. And 'any excuse, no matter how valid, always weakens the character.' We definitely see that in missionary work!
Have a great week and have the spirit with you always!!
~Hermana Whetten
First of all, thanks for the birthday present! It came in the mail on Saturday. I was going to wait until my birthday to open it, but last night we were planning a lesson for one of our investigators, Antonio and how we can help him have a goal of a baptismal date. We decided that we would watch a specific Mormon message with him to help bring in the spirit and so we were about to call the Elders in our district to ask if they had the Mormon message DVDs but then I realized that my package might actually have them. So I opened it up. Thanks so much!!! They are already going to come in so handy. I am also so excited for the object lesson book!!! We have been doing a ton of family home evenings lately, so this will really help us a ton! I am so excited. Hna Mulliner just kept saying, "wow! That is such a good package!" You're the best.
Antonio is doing really well, by the way. Hermana Hansen and I had been teaching him for months and he didn't come to church for the whole time we were together and then he basically told us he wasn't going to be able to in December because he was working every Sunday for the holiday season. So we ended up dropping him for a month or so and then picking him back up in January and he has been coming to church every Sunday for a month straight now!! He is progressing so much! He just loves us too. He and his wife have pretty much decided we're part of the family now and they are already talking about how we should all come back for a camping trip after the mission because I guess they really love doing those often and he was talking about how he loves to play the guitar for those. He is really working on quitting smoking and he will hopefully get baptized soon. But we really want to set that date with him tonight to help give him the added inspiration to quit for good.
Some other random things that happened this week...
We finally decided to bless our apartment and it was really cool. The spirit was very strong afterward!
We are really learning how important visiting teaching is. Our area has about 50-60 families and probably almost half of them are less active, We also found out that according to the records, 0% of the members are doing visiting teaching. Either that is true or if there is visiting teaching being done, they are not recording it. But we can definitely feel it. The members always are getting onto us about how this person or that isn't coming to church but we have so many people to juggle and really our main purpose is the 3.5 million people in the mission boundaries who are not members. But we are basically also having to do the visiting teaching for the ward single-handedly. In other words, please do your visiting teaching! It really does matter. Most people just need an invitation and a friend and they'll come back and it really helps the missionaries a lot!!! (especially in Hispanic work where the majority are recent converts themselves and so they all feel like they depend on the missionaries)
Also, Hermana Yengle (the one with the son Ethan who was born super early) had a baby shower put on by the ward and so we got to go to that for her. Earlier in the week we also got to help one of the less active members work on a ton of little decorations for the baby shower which was really fun. And the baby shower turned out so great! Tons of the members showed up to support her and she was crying at one point because she didn't expect so many people to come and she just felt so loved.
Oh, and I have to tell you about this terrible family home evening that ended up happening this week. So with the young single adult branch we have a family home evening every Tuesday and each week it changes who is in charge. Hermana Mulliner and I took the missionary's turn in December, so the Elders told us that they would do their turn this past week. It felt like something that you'd see on a movie because it ended up so comically bad and they were like oblivious to it all. They thought everyone was thinking it was really cool but we were really all super worried. So the Elders decided to do a lesson on the Gospel of Jesus Christ which is Faith, Repentance, Baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End. They wanted to do an object lesson and they thought they were so brilliant that they came up with this one idea on their own. So they took this rod and said that we all need to have faith then they could turn it into gold. Then they took some red dye and rubbed it all over it and put it in a a container and poured bleach to get the red off. That was supposed to represent the Isaiah scripture on sins red turning white as snow and thus Repentance and Baptism. So far so good. Well they decided that it wasn't turning white fast enough so they poured more bleach and got it all over the table (we were so worried that it would ruin the nice wood table but luckily that didn't happen) but some of the bleach got onto their scriptures and so one of them just wiped the bleach off his scriputures with the back of his tie!!! (who does that!?!) Then they pulled these huge pliers out of their pocket and a blow torch out of their backpack and proceeded to burn the bar (the idea being to get the outer coating off). The fire was supposed to represent the holy ghost. They held it over the bleach container so that any chips that fall off can just go into the container. But they held it way too close and the container started burning. Then they acted like nothing happened it kept on burning the bar for like a minute straight. By then there were bleach fumes galore in that room and it smelled quite bad. But then they pulled out a water bottle because the last step is to pour water to get a gold colored coating (which is actually brass--not gold) and they poured the water over it into the little burnt container which then overfilled and poured even more onto the table. They were so proud of themselves that they had created "gold" and had such a great idea and they were like oblivious to us all. They thought our reaction was amazement not worry! Oh man! I wish that had been recorded! But I had to share that story because it was so crazy!!!
Anyway, I also wanted to share about my experience yesterday at church. The ward had managed to offend the elder who was playing piano and so he asked me if I'd take over playing for sacrament. As missionaries, we're not allowed to have instruments and we have 0 time to practice, so I literally had to go up there and then just play haha. oh what fun. Two of the songs were in the simplified hymnbook that I borrowed, but the sacrament one was not. It also happened to be in a key with 3 flats. Oh great, I was thinking! I decided that they would get what they got and I only played the top note. But it ended up being really funny. In the first few notes I was fumbling through to try to even get a melody and I accidentally ended up changing the key to something that was slightly higher but easier with only one sharp or flat. But then the key was off from the music. So I just had to kind of look at the music for how big the jumps were but then just kind of play by ear. it didn't turn out too badly haha! I am definitely not good at the piano and it was full of mistakes throughout all the pieces, but I'm all they have haha! I guess the good thing is I would usually get a hang of it, so by the 4th time through it wasn't too bad. The funny part, though, is that I'd be playing them and Hispanics don't know how to follow piano, so I'd have to periodically pause for like 2 full seconds for the congregation to catch up to me. and then really plunk out the melody so they could follow. It really is a unique and funny experience playing for them haha!
Okay, for a quick thought I've been thinking about this week. Sometimes we measure our success too much by looking inward or outward when we really should be looking upward. A lot of times there is a problem with people becoming offended because they feel like they're giving it their all and then someone comes up and says they're not doing good enough or something like that. Or you put too much stress on yourself trying to get yourself to measure up to what others are doing. That isn't how it should be. God sent us here to serve with all of our heart, might, mind, and strength. That means that the amount someone can give or do is different for everyone. There will always be someone better than us in anything we do in life whether it be learning a language, or in your physical ablilities, or what grade you get at school. Someone in the world is always going to be better at us. But that shouldn't make us shrink away from developing our talents. When we look upward and really know that heaven has accepted our offering, no matter how big or small, then you know you have lived successfully.
Also, a thought that really has helped me: 'always do what you're afraid to do'. And 'any excuse, no matter how valid, always weakens the character.' We definitely see that in missionary work!
Have a great week and have the spirit with you always!!
~Hermana Whetten
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)