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
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