Monday, April 15, 2013

I LOVE being a trainer! Of course, it has its own unique challenges, but overall it is so great! My favorite quote from Hermana Hardy this week was, "We've been praying to be sent mountains to climb. I didn't expect that those mountains would be mountains of miracles!"
This week truly has been miraculous. But more than, that I think my favorite thing about this past week is that I am actually feeling more about what I always thought a missionary should feel like than ever before in my life and I love it. I swear, I've been working hard my whole mission, but something is different. Something powerful. Something that makes my soul want to connect with the souls of those I meet to help them feel what I'm feeling. We're loving more. We're testifying more boldly and with more power and conviction that we know the thing we're teaching are true. We're seeing the people more. I can't pinpoint exactly what the change is, but let me share a few examples.
I remember when I first went through the temple. The temples have always been my anchor in this gospel and ever since I was just able to attend the dedication of my temple in Albuquerque because I had just turned 8, I wanted to go inside. Probably from that time until I turned 12 every fast Sunday I would go up to the stand to bear my testimony and I think I always included how excited I was to be turning 12 and to get to go to the temple. I loved attending the temple often. Like you know, the same night that I received my mission call, I had the interview with my bishop and stake president to be able to go through the temple and I did that on the following Saturday, 2 days later. I love the temple and it has always been the biggest testimony and evidence for me that this church is true. It just makes it all make sense. Anyway, I remember when I went through the temple that Saturday, I came out and after having felt so spiritually close to God, and coming out into the world it was such a huge contrast for me. I particularly remember someone smoking in a car adjacent to ours. I was thinking "how can you smoke?! Why don't you get it... after what I just saw, how can anyone have any desire to sin?!" God gave me eyes to see people a little more like he sees them with love but concern. This week I found myself being able to see people with those kind of eyes again. We had goals to actually talk to the 140 people (the 10 per person daily). We set aside 140 pass along cards so we'd be able to measure our progess. And at the beginning it was hard and probably took like 3-4 hours straight of knocking and trying to go where the people were before we got through our 20 conversations started. Sometimes it was awkward and I felt like I was blubbering out something about faith in Christ or something. But the more we did it, the more I began to see the people. I used to like park the car and go straight into dinner appointments so I wouldn't be late, for instance. Now we are developing those habits of stopping and trying to start up conversations with absolutely everyone who we possibly can in any situation we are in. I have felt myself begin to love them and actually see them more. I feel like I am being blessed again to have that vision of the people like after the first time I went through the temple. I actually feel like a missionary and I want to teach the joyous news that we have with absolutely everyone. I believe that being a trainer is the thing that brought me there because I am trying to be an example of that amazing missionary who focuses completely on really trying to live Preach My Gospel so that she can become the missionary who is just like that naturally.
The Lord has been blessing us so much as we've been going through trying to better love and be better and more boldly testify of what we know to be true. One of the coolest miracles is that 5 out of the 8 new investigators we were able to find this week are a family that we found because Hermana Hardy has a tiny bladder and needed to use the bathroom so bad she was willing to knock doors to ask them if she could go inside to use the bathroom. The family that let us in has been to like 2 or 3 temples (like Salt Lake City, Oakland, and maybe the Los Angeles) and has talked with missionaries there. It was a beautiful family and they were curious about what we have to share. The Lord works in mysterious ways and I really believe he lead us to them even though the means was really funny. 
But the Lord is blessing us so much with perfect timing with some people, with the spirit being powerfully present in other lessons, and in guiding us and giving us revelation. 
I am so grateful for the opportunity to be a missionary and a trainer! I am excited to keep on building my faith so that in one way or another this coming week will be even better than the last! 
Que tenga el espiritu consigo siempre!! 
~Hermana Whetten