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
Monday, January 28, 2013
Monday, January 28, 2013
This was a really good week but also unusual and crazy.
On Tuesday, I went on an exchange and I went to North Hollywood for a day. It was really good and fun and I learned a lot through talking to the exchange sisters about what I can do in my area to better use the members... be it by making our dinner lessons more focused on inspiring them in how they can be missionaries too or by working with the ward council to call more ward missionaries so they can help take care of some of the recent converts etc.
On Thursday, we had a zone conference and the spirit was strong and we learned a lot. One big thing about the conference was that they talked to us about rules that are there but we don't all know about because they are in things that we don't read through all the time or necessarily have access to (so we would only know about them by word of mouth) like in e-mails the mission president has received. So he compiled a packet of all these and we have them now. It is good because with a higher level of obedience brings more blessings. Obedience to the mission rules is one of the 5 things we can do to strengthen our faith. The others are improving our prayers, better obedience to the spirit, better studies, and diligently working hard always. Through increasing our faith we can increase our connection with God and can thus be better guided by him so we can be led to those people seeking the truth and also can better teach the people. I've been working on making sure that from the exchange and the conference I'm actually making changes to some things. Maybe they're not huge changes, but the small changes can, over time, bring huge results like the airplane making a 1 degree change in its course.
That's one thing the spirit has taught me this week... that if you don't get anything out of it, there is almost no point in going to a conference, or spending an hour studying, or going to a district meeting, or going to church, or even saying a prayer. If you just learn one thing from doing one of these and then you apply it to your life to really help you become better, then it was worthwhile to go. It is interesting that change is so hard. But change is what is required of us to return back to Heavenly Father.
Some other things I've learned this week...
I'm reading through the Libro de Mormon again and yesterday I was reading in 2 Nefi 5:12 and something huge stuck out to me. That verse was written about 30 years after the family first left from Jerusalem. The journey itself lasted about 11 years, so this verse was writted about 19 years after the journey was done. But in that verse, it talks about how they were still using the compass to lead and guide them in their decisions and to receive revelation about what they should do! I had never noticed that before!! It talks about how it was prepared by the hand of the Lord and it was, thus, precious to them. And they were still using it!! I decided that is how I want to be. I think for me, my mission is my compass or Liahona. Sure, the things I learn can absolutely be applied while I am actually on my journey through the wilderness, or on my mission. But I still want to be using these things even after the journey or mission is over. I want to be using these things like 19 years later to still lead and guide me. Once the journey was over, their life wasn't done. They still needed the Lord so they didn't get rid of his compass but they kept on using it for years and years. In that way, I think the mission really can become the North Star for the rest of my life.
I also have been thinking about how while I really have the spirit with me in my life so strongly while on my mission, I need to take the time to really apply things that I want to learn. Because if I really learn it here, I believe I can keep on living it more easily later. One such thing is keeping a little Book of Revelations with me. The idea is simple-- you just record every revelation you receive. It might be things you need to do, things that really stick out to you from a talk or scripture, things you dream maybe, things that you need to jot down while you're praying, et cetera. What I've been finding out is that as I write them down and especially as I talk about them with my companion, the Lord is blessing me with so much more than the initial thought that I sarted with. My Book of Revelations is one of those little tiny notebooks. But it is so good! I recommend it!
Also, I love exercise so much! And the other day we were talking about how Satan must be so jealous of us being able to sweat and exercise and feel pain. That is why he makes people feel like they like being lazy and laying around rather than exercising. But when I exercise, I feel so alive. I love sweating it all out. I love having a body!! And I think there is more to it too. Like the connection our spirit has with the body is so sacred. And I think that that connection is unique to everyone. Literally everyone is different. We are all different on the outside and definitely on the inside. I believe we all see differently, and feel differently, and that is why we hope and think differently. But that is why there is something beautiful about why we all feel like we need to create and show things differently! It is so great!
That's about all the time I have right now, but hopefully as I continue to receive revelations, I can continue to share cool thoughts!!
~Hermana Whetten
On Tuesday, I went on an exchange and I went to North Hollywood for a day. It was really good and fun and I learned a lot through talking to the exchange sisters about what I can do in my area to better use the members... be it by making our dinner lessons more focused on inspiring them in how they can be missionaries too or by working with the ward council to call more ward missionaries so they can help take care of some of the recent converts etc.
On Thursday, we had a zone conference and the spirit was strong and we learned a lot. One big thing about the conference was that they talked to us about rules that are there but we don't all know about because they are in things that we don't read through all the time or necessarily have access to (so we would only know about them by word of mouth) like in e-mails the mission president has received. So he compiled a packet of all these and we have them now. It is good because with a higher level of obedience brings more blessings. Obedience to the mission rules is one of the 5 things we can do to strengthen our faith. The others are improving our prayers, better obedience to the spirit, better studies, and diligently working hard always. Through increasing our faith we can increase our connection with God and can thus be better guided by him so we can be led to those people seeking the truth and also can better teach the people. I've been working on making sure that from the exchange and the conference I'm actually making changes to some things. Maybe they're not huge changes, but the small changes can, over time, bring huge results like the airplane making a 1 degree change in its course.
That's one thing the spirit has taught me this week... that if you don't get anything out of it, there is almost no point in going to a conference, or spending an hour studying, or going to a district meeting, or going to church, or even saying a prayer. If you just learn one thing from doing one of these and then you apply it to your life to really help you become better, then it was worthwhile to go. It is interesting that change is so hard. But change is what is required of us to return back to Heavenly Father.
Some other things I've learned this week...
I'm reading through the Libro de Mormon again and yesterday I was reading in 2 Nefi 5:12 and something huge stuck out to me. That verse was written about 30 years after the family first left from Jerusalem. The journey itself lasted about 11 years, so this verse was writted about 19 years after the journey was done. But in that verse, it talks about how they were still using the compass to lead and guide them in their decisions and to receive revelation about what they should do! I had never noticed that before!! It talks about how it was prepared by the hand of the Lord and it was, thus, precious to them. And they were still using it!! I decided that is how I want to be. I think for me, my mission is my compass or Liahona. Sure, the things I learn can absolutely be applied while I am actually on my journey through the wilderness, or on my mission. But I still want to be using these things even after the journey or mission is over. I want to be using these things like 19 years later to still lead and guide me. Once the journey was over, their life wasn't done. They still needed the Lord so they didn't get rid of his compass but they kept on using it for years and years. In that way, I think the mission really can become the North Star for the rest of my life.
I also have been thinking about how while I really have the spirit with me in my life so strongly while on my mission, I need to take the time to really apply things that I want to learn. Because if I really learn it here, I believe I can keep on living it more easily later. One such thing is keeping a little Book of Revelations with me. The idea is simple-- you just record every revelation you receive. It might be things you need to do, things that really stick out to you from a talk or scripture, things you dream maybe, things that you need to jot down while you're praying, et cetera. What I've been finding out is that as I write them down and especially as I talk about them with my companion, the Lord is blessing me with so much more than the initial thought that I sarted with. My Book of Revelations is one of those little tiny notebooks. But it is so good! I recommend it!
Also, I love exercise so much! And the other day we were talking about how Satan must be so jealous of us being able to sweat and exercise and feel pain. That is why he makes people feel like they like being lazy and laying around rather than exercising. But when I exercise, I feel so alive. I love sweating it all out. I love having a body!! And I think there is more to it too. Like the connection our spirit has with the body is so sacred. And I think that that connection is unique to everyone. Literally everyone is different. We are all different on the outside and definitely on the inside. I believe we all see differently, and feel differently, and that is why we hope and think differently. But that is why there is something beautiful about why we all feel like we need to create and show things differently! It is so great!
That's about all the time I have right now, but hopefully as I continue to receive revelations, I can continue to share cool thoughts!!
~Hermana Whetten
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Monday, January 21, 2013
This week was really a great week!!
First of all, last Monday we decided to do something fun, so we went to this place called the Japanese Gardens which was super fun!! It was a little cold, but it was a blast. There was a bonsai tree garden, a Japanese house, and just a ton of trees and paths to walk around. It was really peaceful and serene. It was a blast and part of what was so fun was that we just took a ton of photos. I've been working on sending some of them to you but these computers today are a little slow, so I probably won't get through many. They also had fun stuff at the gift shop like this thing called a Buddha Board where you paint on it with water and it shows up then slowly goes away as it dries in a few minutes. So relaxing and fun. We were really considering getting one, but we got mini Bonsai tree kits instead haha! I can't wait.
Let's see... This week was a really great week. We kind of ended up exhausted because we are going around doing so much stuff all day long and juggling so many people. The last two weeks we've gotten 6 new investigators each week, so we're really working on trying to help them all a little. It's sad dropping people, but theoretically as many people as you add each week you need to be dropping that many people each week. It's sad, but if we're wasting time on people who won't progress, that is taking time away from people who live in this area who would progress if we were to find them. Finding the balance between everything is hard, but we're working at it and we really do feel like we're doing good in this area.
One thing we have been thinking about is goals and what we want to accomplish with the time we have on our mission and also what we want to accomplish during our lives. One really proactive investigator was telling us about how she has kept a little book of her goals that she's made throughout the years, so she likes to now go through and read back over them to see everything that she's accomplished. I love goals so much. I love making them because they help me know what I want to do with my life and so that helps me be able to make plans of what I need to be doing with my life in order to get to that point where I am living my goals rather than just living.
I also love the atonement so much. I definitely have a testimony that when we prepare for the sacrament, it becomes so much more meaningful. For instance, on Saturday because of the way the lessons were, we weren't able to finish language study, so we came home early in the night and (since it is hard to be motivated to study late at night) we watched The Lamb of God in Spanish for language study and it is so great!!!! It really helped me be able to keep my thoughts focused on the atonement so much more this week (compared to last week when we were just stressing about our investigators haha!). A few things that really hit me is like this one short clip where his hands were tied up and he let it happen. That is what made him the Lamb going off to slaughter. It had to happen. But I bet it was so hard. He was humiliated. His clothes were stripped from him and he had to stand there as the people he had just atoned for spit on him, whipped him, yelled at him as a crowd to be crucified, he had to walk in front of them carrying the beam, then hang. He was the Savior! I don't know why it had never hit me before, but before the Roman soldiers took him away, he performed a miracle right in front of them. He healed the ear that had been cut. He healed it, which was enough to show them that he is the Redeemer and right after viewing the miracle they took him away. I just love Jesus! He is so great and the more I learn about him the more grateful I am for him.
There weren't actually that many stories that happened this week, so I think I may just wrap up. Well, there was a funny story that right after church we found out that Martha, one of the members had dropped her phone down this little pipeline thing under the sink in the Mother's lounge. We were like, "out of all the counter space, how did you manage that?!" She told us that her phone screen is cracked, so she can't turn down the volume. She didn't want the phone to go off during church, so she put in in there under the counter and she happened to put it on the one section that when she closed the door under the sink it pushed it into the hole. We were just laughing at how that happened. Eventually one of the hermanos was able to get the cover off and they all tried to reach it but they couldn't. But unlike all the hispanics there (haha!) I have long skinny fingers, so I was able to reach it and do a little bit of unplanned service. fun fun haha!!!
This will be a fun and different week. We have companion exchanges tomorrow and I'll be going up to North Hollywood and on Thursday we have a zone conference all day.
Have a great week and keep up all the good you're doing!!!
~Hermana Whetten
First of all, last Monday we decided to do something fun, so we went to this place called the Japanese Gardens which was super fun!! It was a little cold, but it was a blast. There was a bonsai tree garden, a Japanese house, and just a ton of trees and paths to walk around. It was really peaceful and serene. It was a blast and part of what was so fun was that we just took a ton of photos. I've been working on sending some of them to you but these computers today are a little slow, so I probably won't get through many. They also had fun stuff at the gift shop like this thing called a Buddha Board where you paint on it with water and it shows up then slowly goes away as it dries in a few minutes. So relaxing and fun. We were really considering getting one, but we got mini Bonsai tree kits instead haha! I can't wait.
Let's see... This week was a really great week. We kind of ended up exhausted because we are going around doing so much stuff all day long and juggling so many people. The last two weeks we've gotten 6 new investigators each week, so we're really working on trying to help them all a little. It's sad dropping people, but theoretically as many people as you add each week you need to be dropping that many people each week. It's sad, but if we're wasting time on people who won't progress, that is taking time away from people who live in this area who would progress if we were to find them. Finding the balance between everything is hard, but we're working at it and we really do feel like we're doing good in this area.
One thing we have been thinking about is goals and what we want to accomplish with the time we have on our mission and also what we want to accomplish during our lives. One really proactive investigator was telling us about how she has kept a little book of her goals that she's made throughout the years, so she likes to now go through and read back over them to see everything that she's accomplished. I love goals so much. I love making them because they help me know what I want to do with my life and so that helps me be able to make plans of what I need to be doing with my life in order to get to that point where I am living my goals rather than just living.
I also love the atonement so much. I definitely have a testimony that when we prepare for the sacrament, it becomes so much more meaningful. For instance, on Saturday because of the way the lessons were, we weren't able to finish language study, so we came home early in the night and (since it is hard to be motivated to study late at night) we watched The Lamb of God in Spanish for language study and it is so great!!!! It really helped me be able to keep my thoughts focused on the atonement so much more this week (compared to last week when we were just stressing about our investigators haha!). A few things that really hit me is like this one short clip where his hands were tied up and he let it happen. That is what made him the Lamb going off to slaughter. It had to happen. But I bet it was so hard. He was humiliated. His clothes were stripped from him and he had to stand there as the people he had just atoned for spit on him, whipped him, yelled at him as a crowd to be crucified, he had to walk in front of them carrying the beam, then hang. He was the Savior! I don't know why it had never hit me before, but before the Roman soldiers took him away, he performed a miracle right in front of them. He healed the ear that had been cut. He healed it, which was enough to show them that he is the Redeemer and right after viewing the miracle they took him away. I just love Jesus! He is so great and the more I learn about him the more grateful I am for him.
There weren't actually that many stories that happened this week, so I think I may just wrap up. Well, there was a funny story that right after church we found out that Martha, one of the members had dropped her phone down this little pipeline thing under the sink in the Mother's lounge. We were like, "out of all the counter space, how did you manage that?!" She told us that her phone screen is cracked, so she can't turn down the volume. She didn't want the phone to go off during church, so she put in in there under the counter and she happened to put it on the one section that when she closed the door under the sink it pushed it into the hole. We were just laughing at how that happened. Eventually one of the hermanos was able to get the cover off and they all tried to reach it but they couldn't. But unlike all the hispanics there (haha!) I have long skinny fingers, so I was able to reach it and do a little bit of unplanned service. fun fun haha!!!
This will be a fun and different week. We have companion exchanges tomorrow and I'll be going up to North Hollywood and on Thursday we have a zone conference all day.
Have a great week and keep up all the good you're doing!!!
~Hermana Whetten
Monday, January 14, 2013
Monday, January 14, 2013
How are you all doing? I hope life is treating you wonderfully well!
A few more Spanish jokes (like before with the answers at the bottom):
1) Que tiene cuando hay un terremoto en la Vaticana? (the Vatican)
2) Que hace una pez?
Anyway, what a crazy and great week! Some of the most exciting things were that Antonio (a different investigator than the one that just got baptized) came to church finally for the first time this Sunday!! It was so great. He's also so committed to quitting smoking and he was able to receive a priesthood blessing after church to help him. We've been working with him for quite a while and he came even though his wife who actually is a member didn't come. We are so excited for him!
We actually have been able to find 6 new investigators this week and it is crazy. Some days, especially on Saturday, we could see the hand of the Lord in absolutely everything that happened. Everything was so miraculous. As one example, the way we found a new investigator, Claudia, was so phenomenal. Every single lesson that day that we had planned, one by one got cancelled for various causes (one person had to go pick his mom up at the airport, another had an uncle and a friend die within 2 days--we brought her ice cream--, another was in Santa Clarita with his family, etc). So we had some time to find before it got dark. We decided that we were going to visit a less active member. But we decided that on the way we would stop by one of the old investigators who we had records for (we had picked out several randomly a week or so ago). The one we happened to pick of our whole stack was just because the people lived closest to the less active member. So we stopped by and on the way I remember Hermana Mulliner making sure that her name badge was showing and was not being covered up by her hair or backpack or jacket (that isn't that normal of a thing to make a huge point out of checking before walking in). But we knocked on their door. They don't normally answer the door for anyone because they're paranoid that people with pistols will just walk in. But he just felt like he should answer the door and he peeked out and saw Hermana Mulliner's namebadge and opened the door and let us in. We found out he was actually baptized when he was a kid but he doesn't remember that much and his wife was very interested in learning more. I don't know if I'm describing it adequately, but every single step led us directly to them and eventually to their door. The Lord didn’t tell us to go directly there, but he directed us there by having us think of Hermana Guerrero, then picking an old investigator paper and everything that happened earlier in the day made us arrive at just the right time on a day when they were both home and then Hermana Mulliner checking her badge to make sure it was showing got us in. We could definitely see the Lord's hand in all of it. He is so mindful of us and sometimes he has to direct us by guiding us through a series of things to get us to where he actually wants us. But they came to church yesterday for sacrament meeting and loved it!
A random thing that might make you laugh. The last week or two my companion and I have been trying something really random. We have started blending our salads to make vegetable smoothies for lunch. Like we just have gone to the store and looked at different veggies and been like, "well, I think that one is supposed to be healthy for you, so let's buy some of that." We have lots of different things like carrots, spinach, broccoli, celery, peppers, tomatoes, et cetera. What smoothie we make for the day is simply by what combination of veggies we happen to randomly want to try that day. The recipe is really simple. We put whatever veggies we want in the blender and also ice and a liquid like a juice or milk and then blend it. Then we taste it and it is always gross at that point. Then we add something sweet. For instance, we can add a banana, a yogurt cup, a can of fruit (like peaches or apricots), or whatever other fruit we want or happen to have. we add one of them and then blend and taste it. If it still needs more sweet we add something else. We continue to do that until it becomes palatable. The color is always really gross. Some days the taste hasn't been that great either. For instance, just to save us a little bit of potential grief we don't use raw asparagus. It doesn't ever really taste good. We've been trying this for most lunches at home for the past week or so and sometimes the smoothies are really starting to come along and actually become good. But it is funny because every day we laugh about how weird we are. But every day we are like craving it again haha (maybe because Hispanic food that we get all the time isn't that healthy for the most part)! We're always excited to see what it will taste like. We're also always so surprised that you can become full on fruits and veggies. I've also got a really good breakfast recipe that I've recently come up with that actually is a winner every time (I don't know if you'll trust me after the story I just told you about our veggie ones, but this one actually is pretty delicious). You mix the following in a blender: a banana, a cup of yogurt, a bit of milk, some ice cubes, and a handful of oatmeal oat stuff (like the dry stuff you use when you make oatmeal cookies). It is super good and is another way to get some fiber from the oats and fruits. It is all healthy too. I guess we're just having a lot of fun with our blender lately. We've also made peanut butter, chocolate, and banana smoothies too. those are good and just a little bit less healthy :)
Anyway, that is probably most of what's been going on here. We are always learning and growing. We're really finding out that there are such great and fun ways to do finding activities. Like we've been planning and doing some fun family home evening things, we're working on planning some activities with the YSA branch, we're working on starting an English class, et cetera. I guess there is definitely a difference between working smart and working hard. Sure it is hard work to knock on doors all day long, but it is harder work (and definitely smarter work) to spend the time to work through members and plan activities where they can bring their friends, look for service opportunities, et cetera.
Also, it's funny how much Hispanic people want to feed you here! Like there was a streak of 4 or so days this week where we didn't eat a single lunch or dinner at home because so many people just kept wanting to feed us. They take offense if you try to say no also. Like their food is their way of offering you a part of their heart, so you have to take it or you're rejecting them.
But yeah, have a great week. Isn't it crazy how fast time flies?
~Hermana Whetten Answers: 1) puree de papa 2) nada!
A few more Spanish jokes (like before with the answers at the bottom):
1) Que tiene cuando hay un terremoto en la Vaticana? (the Vatican)
2) Que hace una pez?
Anyway, what a crazy and great week! Some of the most exciting things were that Antonio (a different investigator than the one that just got baptized) came to church finally for the first time this Sunday!! It was so great. He's also so committed to quitting smoking and he was able to receive a priesthood blessing after church to help him. We've been working with him for quite a while and he came even though his wife who actually is a member didn't come. We are so excited for him!
We actually have been able to find 6 new investigators this week and it is crazy. Some days, especially on Saturday, we could see the hand of the Lord in absolutely everything that happened. Everything was so miraculous. As one example, the way we found a new investigator, Claudia, was so phenomenal. Every single lesson that day that we had planned, one by one got cancelled for various causes (one person had to go pick his mom up at the airport, another had an uncle and a friend die within 2 days--we brought her ice cream--, another was in Santa Clarita with his family, etc). So we had some time to find before it got dark. We decided that we were going to visit a less active member. But we decided that on the way we would stop by one of the old investigators who we had records for (we had picked out several randomly a week or so ago). The one we happened to pick of our whole stack was just because the people lived closest to the less active member. So we stopped by and on the way I remember Hermana Mulliner making sure that her name badge was showing and was not being covered up by her hair or backpack or jacket (that isn't that normal of a thing to make a huge point out of checking before walking in). But we knocked on their door. They don't normally answer the door for anyone because they're paranoid that people with pistols will just walk in. But he just felt like he should answer the door and he peeked out and saw Hermana Mulliner's namebadge and opened the door and let us in. We found out he was actually baptized when he was a kid but he doesn't remember that much and his wife was very interested in learning more. I don't know if I'm describing it adequately, but every single step led us directly to them and eventually to their door. The Lord didn’t tell us to go directly there, but he directed us there by having us think of Hermana Guerrero, then picking an old investigator paper and everything that happened earlier in the day made us arrive at just the right time on a day when they were both home and then Hermana Mulliner checking her badge to make sure it was showing got us in. We could definitely see the Lord's hand in all of it. He is so mindful of us and sometimes he has to direct us by guiding us through a series of things to get us to where he actually wants us. But they came to church yesterday for sacrament meeting and loved it!
A random thing that might make you laugh. The last week or two my companion and I have been trying something really random. We have started blending our salads to make vegetable smoothies for lunch. Like we just have gone to the store and looked at different veggies and been like, "well, I think that one is supposed to be healthy for you, so let's buy some of that." We have lots of different things like carrots, spinach, broccoli, celery, peppers, tomatoes, et cetera. What smoothie we make for the day is simply by what combination of veggies we happen to randomly want to try that day. The recipe is really simple. We put whatever veggies we want in the blender and also ice and a liquid like a juice or milk and then blend it. Then we taste it and it is always gross at that point. Then we add something sweet. For instance, we can add a banana, a yogurt cup, a can of fruit (like peaches or apricots), or whatever other fruit we want or happen to have. we add one of them and then blend and taste it. If it still needs more sweet we add something else. We continue to do that until it becomes palatable. The color is always really gross. Some days the taste hasn't been that great either. For instance, just to save us a little bit of potential grief we don't use raw asparagus. It doesn't ever really taste good. We've been trying this for most lunches at home for the past week or so and sometimes the smoothies are really starting to come along and actually become good. But it is funny because every day we laugh about how weird we are. But every day we are like craving it again haha (maybe because Hispanic food that we get all the time isn't that healthy for the most part)! We're always excited to see what it will taste like. We're also always so surprised that you can become full on fruits and veggies. I've also got a really good breakfast recipe that I've recently come up with that actually is a winner every time (I don't know if you'll trust me after the story I just told you about our veggie ones, but this one actually is pretty delicious). You mix the following in a blender: a banana, a cup of yogurt, a bit of milk, some ice cubes, and a handful of oatmeal oat stuff (like the dry stuff you use when you make oatmeal cookies). It is super good and is another way to get some fiber from the oats and fruits. It is all healthy too. I guess we're just having a lot of fun with our blender lately. We've also made peanut butter, chocolate, and banana smoothies too. those are good and just a little bit less healthy :)
Anyway, that is probably most of what's been going on here. We are always learning and growing. We're really finding out that there are such great and fun ways to do finding activities. Like we've been planning and doing some fun family home evening things, we're working on planning some activities with the YSA branch, we're working on starting an English class, et cetera. I guess there is definitely a difference between working smart and working hard. Sure it is hard work to knock on doors all day long, but it is harder work (and definitely smarter work) to spend the time to work through members and plan activities where they can bring their friends, look for service opportunities, et cetera.
Also, it's funny how much Hispanic people want to feed you here! Like there was a streak of 4 or so days this week where we didn't eat a single lunch or dinner at home because so many people just kept wanting to feed us. They take offense if you try to say no also. Like their food is their way of offering you a part of their heart, so you have to take it or you're rejecting them.
But yeah, have a great week. Isn't it crazy how fast time flies?
~Hermana Whetten Answers: 1) puree de papa 2) nada!
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