Transfer 2: check. Onto 3!
Hello everyone! Thanks for all the letters and support! I'm so glad the family and everyone has been doing terrifically. Thanks for all the quotes all the time, mom! I add a lot of them to my Preach My Gospel. My goal is to make Preach My Gospel mine by the end of my mission. It is well on it's way with highlights, quotes, thoughts, inserts of talks, et cetera. I love it! That makes me laugh so hard that Max can climb out of his pack and play now! How funny. And I can't believe that Mia only has 5 more weeks of cooking. The time has really flown and it is hard to believe because Sarah was still normal size when I left. But I hope you all have fun at the baby shower! I'll be there in spirit :)
Holy cow! Can you believe it?! It is already transfer 3!! This is going to be a great transfer... during this one we will have Halloween, Thanksgiving, and also I'll hit my 6 month mark of being on my mission. I can't believe it. That means that after this it's like my days are numbered. I will have less than a year to learn, do, and become everything that I want to on my mission. I don't want to waste a single day or it will already be over basically.
We had a conference of all the missionaries in the San Fernando Valley on Tuesday and from that I was extremely inspired by President Hall. I am seriously so lucky to be a missionary exactly right now. Think about it. This is a time when everyone is asking questions about who the Mormons are. Between politics (a presidential candidate in one party and the senate majority leader in the other major political party), popular culture (Book of Mormon: The Musical), and media (the "I'm a Mormon campaign, mormon.org, radio, documentaries, interviews, et cetera) everyone is asking who are the Mormons? For centuries missionary work has been predicted (in Isaiah) and today is the most significant moment in the history of the world for missionary work.
D&C 88:72-73 says:
72 Behold, and lo, I will take care of your aflocks, and will raise up elders [and hermanas] and send unto them.
73 Behold, I will ahasten my work in its time.
That is exactly what the Lord has done! I am the fulfillment of prophecy right now! There are currently about 58,000 missionaries in the world. President Hall was doing some simple math and it is possible that in the next year or so that number will soar to almost 100,000 missionaries with the new announcement of the minimum age of 18 for young men and 19 for young women. And I am a part of it! I'll probably be the trainer for several of these new 19 year old women in the field. I am so excited to be a part of this work!! Not only that, but to be out here right here and right now.
President Hall said that in our mission we have been having about 500 baptisms here for many years. Well after praying earnestly about it, we are setting a goal next year to double that number and baptize 1000 people. And I will be a part of it! By making changes of being more obedient to the missionary rules, being more obedient to the spirit, praying more fervently, working harder, and studying better I know that that goal is possible. We'll make it. And I'm a part of it! I am also so lucky to have such a great mission president who is turning this mission even more fully into a Preach My Gospel mission. I know he was meant to be my president.
Anyway, let me talk a little about this week. I guess my first announcement is that we got our transfer calls on Saturday night and Hermana Hansen and I are staying together for another transfer. She was sure she was going to leave because it is somewhat rare I guess for people to stay with their trainer for 3 transfers. We know that in transfers the president has to think several transfers ahead to get people into the right area so they can have certain assignments given, so Hermana Hansen thinks it is because I am going to become a trainer next transfer. Who knows if that is true. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
This week was also such a great week. As of last Sunday we had 2 baptism dates planned, but in the last week that number has soared up to 5. And it doesn't feel like we've been doing anything differently. They have just been happening. The Lord blesses us so much. Sometimes I don't feel worthy for those blessings. But maybe he has hope in me so I will do my part to become a better person to become more worthy for them. But anyway, some of those baptism dates were these. Stephany's baptism didn't end up happening because she wanted more time. But when we rescheduled it, her sister Priscilla who has just recently finished nursing school is now available to receive the lessons and so we were able to set a date with both of them. When we were visiting a less active sister in the ward, her mom was out and so we taught her a simple lesson on the Restoration of the Gospel and invited her to be baptized. She said "porque no?" She is almost 90 and had 22 children and never before had been that receptive or eager because she's lived a very hard life. But it is never too late. She still has a lot of mental capacities and was telling us that she knows that the story of Joseph Smith is true and that the Book of Mormon is true. Another one of the dates is from a member referral. She came up to us after church and asked us to go to her house that night to teach her neighbor and he accepted the invitation to be baptized and he really wants to learn more and go to church. They are just so great!! Hermana Hansen is so excited to stay here with me for another transfer to help all of these people out to learn more. It is the greatest thing ever!!
I also prayed this week to be the answer to someone's prayer and that absolutely happened. We were trying to visit a non-active member for the young single adult branch and she was absolutely not interested. But while we were leaving we saw a neighbor (who happened to have the same name as that member ironically) going into the elevator with her arms full of clothes. We were like, "would you like some help?" and she was like shocked out of words for a second then was like "actually yes, can you help me?" She was moving out and had been doing so like all day. Her roommate didn't pay the rent one day so she had to move. There was supposed to be a ton of people to help her out but all of them didn't show up except one. They were almost done so we were able to help get the last few things down to the truck. She needed to get to work at 6 so she could pay for the truck and the storage facility and so that one guy was going to have to unload it all by himself. The storage facility was in Santa Barbara. She said she would pay us 20 dollars to help unload it all. (Santa Barbara is outside of my mission so it was like one of those moments where it was funny because it was like at conference... hmmm... will I sell my soul for $20? Do I want to get sent home for leaving the mission for $20? No thanks haha.) But within 3 phone calls we were able to get a hold of the missionaries in Santa Barbara, so she was going to have missionaries waiting there to help her out. That is how cool the church is. Maybe we couldn't go. But because there are missionaries everywhere, the missionaries there could help out. She said she had been praying for help and right then we came along and asked if we could help her out. Hopefully that planted a big seed and the missionaries in Santa Barbara will be able to teach her.
I guess another thing that was fantastic was that this week we had the absolute best lesson in the world on Monday. There is a less active member we teach and his non member wife. We taught then a normal lesson on the Plan of Salvation. But it was in the discussion afterward that it got really cool. We were talking about how now that we know this plan, what does that mean to us? What things does that change? He was giving us excuses for like 5 minutes about how he knows he shouldn't drink but he only does it sometimes when he's around his coworkers etc. We listened. Then after he was done I explained, "we are disciples of Christ. And as disciples of Christ, our invitation to you, Lyc, is to be baptized by someone who holds the authority of God." Then I turned to Juan Carlos and said, "and our invitation to you is to become worthy to baptize your wife." That is what changed everything. When he realized that he had the aaronic priesthood so he could baptize her, he was humbled and explained that that would be so sacred and special. Then later she opened up more too. She started chocking up with tears and said "it's okay, keep going on" and we were like "no, you're crying. What's on your mind?" and she opened up and they talked about how she's always wanted to be a mother but that since they've been married for 2 and a half years they haven't been able to have any children. Hermana Hansen and I both felt the impression so strongly in our hearts, so we promised her that if she starts on this path of baptism, her righteous desires of wanting to have children will be able to happen. The spirit was so strong in that lesson. Then afterward we asked her to pray and she prayed the most sincere prayer I've ever heard an investigator say about how strongly she wants to know it is true. She started crying again halfway through and her husband took her into his arms and there she finished the prayer. So when we opened our eyes they were there in each other's arms. It was the cutest thing ever! But I just loved it and the spirit was so strong there. We love her and hope that she'll listen to her heart and work toward baptism. That was one of those lessons where it wasn't us teaching. It was completely the spirit. And I was honored to be able to witness being there while the spirit was teaching.
So yeah, pretty much last week was like the best ever! I can't wait to see what the Lord has in store for me this week! This is the best work in the world. And it still hits me all the time... I'm a missionary. I'm in California!! This is so great!
May the Spirit be with you!
~Hermana Whetten
Saturday, October 20, 2012
Monday, October 8, 2012
Hello all!
Wasn't conference the absolute best?!!?! Oh man! I loved it! It was really cool watching it because certain things came up and I couldn't help thinking of you all. For instance, when they made the lower age for missionary service announcement, I could practically hear mom from here saying "what!!" and Britt being super super excited (it was cool to be around the missionaries during that announcement. We were all like "woah, No WAY!" Not going to lie, I wish I would have been able to go on my mission when I was 19. But clearly I am meant to be right here right now.) And when the one sister (Ann M. Dibb) talked about the t-shirt slogan "I'm a Mormon. I know it. I live it. I love it" I could just see the gears in mom's head already working to design a t-shirt with that slogan. If you do end up making some you should so send one my way haha! When President Monson was talking about how he wished he had stuck with the piano I was thinking about Brittany and how she won't ever have to live with that regret. Oh man! It totally was the best. I'd love to hear what all of your favorite talks were and why!
As a missionary, it was so great listening to them all. While last week I did watch the Relief Society Broadcast in Spanish I realized that I wouldn't get much out of it between the very sophisticated vocabulary I don't have yet and the speed of talking of the translators. Plus it is weird listening to it in Spanish because like you will sometimes hear the speaker start phrases then the interpreter will take over. So yeah, I watched in English and I learned so much. I can't wait for the November issues of the Ensign and Liahona to come out so I can study them again! I came into the conference with an attitude of prayer for specific things that I wanted to learn and they were definitely answered. Oh I also loved hearing the talk where he kept on saying "Ask the missionaries. They can help you!" After that talk the elders in front of us turned around and were like, "I think I just received 6 referrals." Haha! But it is so true. We have the answers to the big questions of life and we can help with practically any problem in life!
I think my favorite talk of them all was that of Jeffrey R. Holland. I love the way he says things boldly but with love. When he speaks you know it is absolute truth because he is so logical (so it makes sense in your heart) but he also says it with the spirit and with love (so you can feel it is true in your heart as well). I actually cried a little while listening to that one because I realized that when I come face to face with Christ, I don't want him to have to ask me over and over again "do you love me?" I want him to absolutely know that I love Him with all my heart. I want that probably more than anything else. That is the desire of me heart. And I can become that person who loves him with all my heart by becoming a person whose actions show it. I want to become a person who loves those around me and shows it by always serving them. I want to be that person that people know they can come to when life gets hard. I want to be that person who always listens to the spirit and literally can become the answer to other's prayers every day. I'm not quite there yet. Not really by a long shot. But I want it so bad, so I will work on making the changes in my life to develop the attributes of Christ more fully in my life so I can become like that.
Anyway, needless to say, I loved conference and can't wait to read these talks and study them more!
Now for the big things of this week. The best part is that Stephany is going to be getting baptized next Sunday!!! I love her so much and can literally see how for her coming to know the gospel has been changing her desires and her levels of faith, peace, and happiness in life. We promise that more happiness is possible through the gospel than you've ever before experienced and with her that absolutely is true. She had to hit rock bottom of getting a DUI after crashing into a wall and then having to go to prison over the 4th of July. But she really has been repenting of her past and I really feel she's ready to take this huge step of getting baptized and becoming completely clean from it. She understands it so well too. Like last night we were reviewing the Plan of Salvation and we asked her what this plan means to her and she said "well, it's God's plan, so that means we'd better follow it!" I am seriously so excited for her!!
It's also interesting how we found her. She was the daughter of the person a friend in our ward referred us to. That absolutely shows me the importance of member referrals! The cool thing is I have so much hope for Stephany's sister, Priscilla. We haven't really been able to meet with Priscilla because she's always been studying for these nursing school tests which have been every Monday. But now that is pretty much over and she said she'll be better about coming to church and meeting with us now. Yay! I'm so excited!
We also got to get rid of our most difficult investigators this week. They asked so many questions and we always felt mentally drained after speaking with them. They basically loved having us come over because they liked to talk to us about what we believe in, but they didn't have any intention of acting on it. They just liked to learn. So we had really been focusing on teaching as clearly as we could why this church is the only true church on the earth and what makes us different. But they haven't been doing anything on their own like reading or going to church and I think they finally got tired of us over and over and over again inviting them to take the steps and be baptized and attend church and read the Book of Mormon etc. So they kind of dropped us over text. I love them and am sad to see that decision because I know what they really are turning down. But I'm happy because they finally made a decision. They got off the fence and made a decision. We don't have to keep on doing metaphorical pushups over them and we can spend our time on people who will progress. It's always a big question. When do you drop someone? In this case, they made it themselves.
I guess those were the two extremes of this week and the two main things that happened. On Thursday Hna Hansen went to a training in Santa Clarita so it ended up working out that I was companions for most of the day with an English speaking sister named Sister Filimoehala from New Zealand who is Tongan. I loved her accent! But she speaks zero Spanish, so we were in her area for the day and this is her first transfer. So it was a nice role reversal because I was in a way a senior comp and I helped her understand what she can do in certain situations. I also helped her learn to read a map. It got interesting at one point because she hadn't written down the address for an investigator. She only knew the street name but the streets in California are confusing because any street that runs along a certain line on the map has the same street name. But the thing is that inside the blocks the streets curve and so it ends up that the streets on the different blocks have the same name but they're not actually connected at all. So I was able to help teach her that. I really had fun getting to help her out and to hear her story and the culture she came from etc. She is really great!
So we're at the family history center (I guess it's a holiday? I'm not sure which one it is) and so I don't have too much more time right now so I'll wrap up. We got electricity in our house finally by like 2 or 3 in the afternoon on Tuesday. Oh yeah, Thursday was like the best day of my life!! When letters are sent to the mission office we get them the next time we go up to Santa Clarita or whenever we see the zone leaders, usually on Fridays at district meeting. But it ended up that on Thursday I got a stack of letters from Hna Hansen going up to Santa Clarita. So between that and mail at the apartment, I ended up with 6 letters and a paper saying I got a package waiting for me at the post office! It was the best day of my life pretty much!! Letters are pretty much one of the best things in the entire world when you're on a mission! But thanks so much for the package, mom!!! You are seriously the best! The snacks are great (I was especially excited that there were more fruit leather rolls! They are so good!) The DVD and Spanish book and Plan of Salvation papers are exactly what I wanted! You're the best! Thanks so much!
Well that's all that comes to my mind right now so I'll sign off. I love receiving your letters and hearing how everyone is doing. I hope this is the best week ever for everyone!!
May the Spirit be with you!
~Hermana Whetten
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Whew. Today was a busy day and I don't have much time before we have to leave for our dinner appointment but I'll hopefully have enough time to write this e-mail.
Today was moving day from one apartment into another which is in our area (so you can use that address now). It ended up taking two trips because we had to take all the furnature with us... like the sofa, the dresser, the desks, the table, et cetera. The senior couple in charge of the housing was there but they weren't much help for lifting and moving stuff up and down the stairs. Luckily the three elders from our district came and helped the whole time and the zone leaders came and helped for the first trip. They were great because they got all the heavy stuff. After we were all done Hna Hansen and I got us all some In-N-Out burgers and shakes for the district because they are seriously so great. The size of the apartment is a little smaller but hopefully it will work out great once everything is put away. The main problem right now is that we won't have electricity or gas until in the morning.They meant to get that started up for us last Friday but I guess something didn't end up happening. (I'm really hoping it will work in the morning!!!) It is still extremely hot here. Like our car thermometer is still reading over 100 almost every day (more like 113 or so this afternoon). So we're hoping that we'll be cool enough without the cooler working tonight. We are lucky in that we're on the east side of the building so it doesn't seem to get too hot in the afternoon. Between that and keeping the blinds closed all afternoon hopefully we will be able to sleep comfortably tonight. We'll just have to see and cross our fingers!!!
The work is still going great. We were able to meet with the person I talked about last week who asked us what the process for getting baptized was and we found out a few things. 1) in her process of moving she moved to Van Nuys not Reseda (the cities here are crazy because there are so many cities in the San Fernando Valley but there is absolutely nothing geographically different to divide the cities so I still am not sure exactly where many of the cities are but I'm figuring it out) 2) She actually already was baptized in probably 1993 when she was 8 with her dad but he stopped going so she wasn't able to continue for a long time. So we're going to try looking for her records and if that is the case she won't need to get rebaptized. I guess the bishop somehow didn't know about finding records because his solution for her was to rebaptize her. Usually that is the case for a lot of the hispanics who got baptized a long time ago in central or south america because it is really hard to find their records. The records can be recreated with 2 witnesses who were there but it is all interesting. Anyway, hopefully we won't have to be rebaptized. 3) Her mom isn't a member and she's interested in the missionary lessons. So she'll be a new investigator for elders in Van Nuys.
Priscilla is really progressing. She came to church on Sunday and also the Relief Society session of General Conference. That was interesting to go to. We ended up watching it in Spanish with her and the interpreters talk so fast that I didn't really get anything substantial out of it at all. Luckily in the second chapel in that building they show the english version too. So for the sessions of general conference this week we'll be watching it in english (yay!!). It was really weird though because in the spanish interpretation version the music is still the same (in english) and it's like the spanish people get upset because they don't know the language but they want to sing along too. Like in the last piece before the closing prayer it was a hymn sung by the choir and so it was supposed to be listened to. But someone found out what number that hymn was in spanish and shouted it out and the spanish people started singing along to the choir in spanish. It was really... different and made me like laugh and roll my eyes. Good thing I love these people.
I guess the last thing as I start wrapping up is a question I guess for anyone who happens to know more about this than me. I started researching it the other day. What is a visionary person? Like what is a vision? And who can get one?
I've always known that people in the Bible and the Book of Mormon were 'visionary people' but to me I guess I always assumed that was a thing that was rare and reserved for the prophet. But at least 4 times in the last few months I've had specific instances when I was in the process of praying/meditating about a question and my mind will play out these images that suddenly make something clear about what I need to do. It seems like daydreaming or my mind wandering to me and I guess I've always thought that is what it was. But when it happens that is the answer to the question I was praying/meditating about. The images aren't necessarily relevant but to me they are symbolic and they are like an answer to me. So is that a vision?
Sorry, this might sound random... I guess it came out in my mind especially right now because I'm currently reading the book Our Heritage and there are so many instances of people seeing 'visions' or angels ministering or stuff like that. So I'm just not really sure.
I'll wrap up with the question/thought. Are you a black hole or a sun? That is one of the image things that came to my mind during sacrament meeting this week to answer how I can be a better person. If you're a black hole you're sucking everything inward toward you, even the light is sucked in toward you. You're giving nothing back but are inward. If you're a sun you're giving everything and at the same time not ever really running out of more of yourself to give. But you provide light and heat and the ability for other things to exist or grow. Anyway, just a random thought. Computers in the library are shutting down soon so I've got to go. Thanks for everything. You're all the best!
~Hermana Whetten
ps-Mom thanks for the article! I got it and that is exactly what I wanted. Oh yeah, for the exercise thing, you know how pintrest had little exercise lists of things to do too? If you find any good ones ever can you print those off for me maybe? thanks! You're so great!
Monday, September 24, 2012
Hello! I hope that this week was wonderful for everyone!
First of all, I came up with a motto for myself! My Motto: 212. What does it mean? Well, water boils at 212 degrees. Nothing less. You can heat water to 210 degrees for 100 years and you won't get a single iota of steam. It is that difference of 2 degrees that makes all the difference. That is like life. You can be doing good and you can feel like you're on fire practically even. But it is that difference of going the extra mile of being exactly obedient to the commandments (or mission rules in my case) or making your study time that much more effective or being that much more obedient to the spirit or making your prayers that much better that creates that 2 degree heating that really makes all the differences. That is when you can see the steam or the miracles in life. That is when you can finally be completely an instrument in the Lord's hands. It's also kind of like the scripture in the Bible about how you should either be cold or hot. What good is lukewarm water for but to spew it out of my mouth. Either go completely to the 212 degrees or don't go at all. And you want to know the cooler part? My birthday is 2-12. Coincidence? I think NOT!!
Oh, I want to tell you about a cool object lesson we came up with this week when we were preparing a Lesson 3 (The Gospel of Jesus Christ which is Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End) lesson with Stephany. It was really silly and really fun and it workout out so perfectly in the lesson. Like Stephany was even like, "wow, that is a really cool way to think about it." So here it is:
Imagine that you have this blouse which is your favorite blouse and you love to wear it everywhere and it is white and attractive and goes perfectly with everything. You're just going about your day and enjoying an ice cream cone when suddenly you look down and a huge blob of chocolate ice cream was spilled on this blouse. How terrible! So what do you do? You get your handy-dandy Tide-to-go pen and work on trying to get the stain to come out. That is really really good and you're so glad that you had that in your bag. But it isn't really clean. The stain is still there and you can still kind of see the edges. So the way to really get it clean again is to obviously go get it washed. Then when you're done washing it you don't just put on the wet shirt, you then put it in the dryer. Then when that is done and you want to make it look really nice and presentable again you get your iron and iron out the wrinkles. Then you're good again to go and get interviewed for a job or to go spend time with your family and friends without shame or embarrassment.
This is like life! You are the blouse and inevitably by living we will make a mistake. Sometimes it is just a little one but some of them are like a huge blob of chocolate ice cream right down the front of the shirt. Obviously you don't want to go around wearing that for the rest of your life like that. You would be embarrassed and ashamed and sad. So you get your tide-to-go pen which is like repentance. You can work it out a bit so that it is kind of clean again. But to really get it clean, you have to go through the whole process and get it washed. This is like putting your shirt in the washer. It can then become completely clean as if it was never there in the first place. No one needs to remember the old stain any more because it isn't there anymore so who cares?! Then obviously you don't wear a shirt that just got out of the washer and is soaking wet. You put it in the dryer to finish the process. That is like receiving the gift of the holy ghost or the second half which completes the first half--the baptism of fire in a way. Then after that you're still not done. You have to take the iron and throughout the rest of your life you have to work on ironing out the wrinkles again until it is perfect enough that you can wear it to the big interview or to return back to heavenly father.
Life isn't over after that. You have to continually go through and do it all again because you're going to make more mistakes after this baptism. You have to continually work on your faith. Then when you make mistakes you go through the process of repenting and scrubbing at the future stains again. Then you can wash it again which is the sacrament where you literally can become just as clean as that baptism day again (just like we wash our clothes each week, we take the sacrament each week!). Then we dry it again or do the things to keep the Holy Ghost with us and we can iron out the wrinkles or our imperfections.
It was so cool teaching that lesson. We taught it with scriptures at each point to help emphasize it all then we wrapped it up perfectly with the scripture: 3 Nephi 27: 19-20. Man I loved teaching that lesson because the spirit was so strong the whole time. Like when I feel the spirit strongly I feel literal tingles and I was tingling throughout the whole lesson! It was so cool to be in it.
Anyway, let's see...
One really cool thing happened this week. After sacrament meeting, the bishop introduced us to someone who was like "what is the process of getting baptized? I want to get baptized. My dad was a member and I just never got baptized so I want to." Holy cow!! You never imagine that just happening to you! She is so great! She is in the process of moving and so she may end up in Reseda (my area) or she may end up in Van Nuys but we'll have to see. She is a YSA, though, so we might be able to teach her anyways through that but it'll depend on if her mom wants to be taught too. We'll just have to see haha! But that was seriously so cool!
Also, there was a cool missionary fireside we put on. I was in the missionary choir (of course :) ) and so everyone stared off in the chapel and then they took half of the people away at first then about 15 or 20 minutes later they took the other half so the groups could be smaller. They went through 4 classes on faith, repentance, baptism, and receiving the holy ghost and the choir got to entertain them with music and Mormon message videos. Then when everyone was done and we met back up all together again, the stake president had a short talk on missionary work and also enduring to the end. It was such a great experience for everyone!! It was really fun too!
So I'm super excited for the Relief Society broadcast this coming week and then General Conference next week! I have no clue if I'll be listening in English or Spanish, but it should be fun either way. I've lately noticed that I am getting better and better at listening and comprehending. Now I just need to especially work on my speaking. Maybe I'll get a nativa in a future transfer and I can speak in mostly Spanish.
Oh yeah, we did this new thing this week where instead of getting frustrated because every time we wanted a member to come we would go through all the members who live in the area and none of them are available... we are now passing a list around of time slots that people can sign up to go out with us. We'll pass that around Relief Society. That has been so helpful! Of course some members ended up falling through, but we did our part to try to make it so there was a lesson for every member instead of the other way around and trying to get a member for every lesson and being frustrated because there are so many schedules to coordinate. It has worked out great and I know as we work on getting members to lessons we'll see even more miracles! They always have such strong testimonies to share of how they found out that the church was true for themselves. We also found out that Eurice who is living here for a few months (she's from Guatemala) wants to go on a mission in a few years. So when we move to our area, we're going to try picking her up in the morning and then having her be with us all day so she can see what missionary life is like. It'll be super fun!
I think that's about all. Have a great week and may the spirit always be with you!
~Hermana Whetten
oh, PS-Sarah, I hope you're doing all right and that the baby'll flip and you can be able to get good sleep sometimes!
First of all, I came up with a motto for myself! My Motto: 212. What does it mean? Well, water boils at 212 degrees. Nothing less. You can heat water to 210 degrees for 100 years and you won't get a single iota of steam. It is that difference of 2 degrees that makes all the difference. That is like life. You can be doing good and you can feel like you're on fire practically even. But it is that difference of going the extra mile of being exactly obedient to the commandments (or mission rules in my case) or making your study time that much more effective or being that much more obedient to the spirit or making your prayers that much better that creates that 2 degree heating that really makes all the differences. That is when you can see the steam or the miracles in life. That is when you can finally be completely an instrument in the Lord's hands. It's also kind of like the scripture in the Bible about how you should either be cold or hot. What good is lukewarm water for but to spew it out of my mouth. Either go completely to the 212 degrees or don't go at all. And you want to know the cooler part? My birthday is 2-12. Coincidence? I think NOT!!
Oh, I want to tell you about a cool object lesson we came up with this week when we were preparing a Lesson 3 (The Gospel of Jesus Christ which is Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End) lesson with Stephany. It was really silly and really fun and it workout out so perfectly in the lesson. Like Stephany was even like, "wow, that is a really cool way to think about it." So here it is:
Imagine that you have this blouse which is your favorite blouse and you love to wear it everywhere and it is white and attractive and goes perfectly with everything. You're just going about your day and enjoying an ice cream cone when suddenly you look down and a huge blob of chocolate ice cream was spilled on this blouse. How terrible! So what do you do? You get your handy-dandy Tide-to-go pen and work on trying to get the stain to come out. That is really really good and you're so glad that you had that in your bag. But it isn't really clean. The stain is still there and you can still kind of see the edges. So the way to really get it clean again is to obviously go get it washed. Then when you're done washing it you don't just put on the wet shirt, you then put it in the dryer. Then when that is done and you want to make it look really nice and presentable again you get your iron and iron out the wrinkles. Then you're good again to go and get interviewed for a job or to go spend time with your family and friends without shame or embarrassment.
This is like life! You are the blouse and inevitably by living we will make a mistake. Sometimes it is just a little one but some of them are like a huge blob of chocolate ice cream right down the front of the shirt. Obviously you don't want to go around wearing that for the rest of your life like that. You would be embarrassed and ashamed and sad. So you get your tide-to-go pen which is like repentance. You can work it out a bit so that it is kind of clean again. But to really get it clean, you have to go through the whole process and get it washed. This is like putting your shirt in the washer. It can then become completely clean as if it was never there in the first place. No one needs to remember the old stain any more because it isn't there anymore so who cares?! Then obviously you don't wear a shirt that just got out of the washer and is soaking wet. You put it in the dryer to finish the process. That is like receiving the gift of the holy ghost or the second half which completes the first half--the baptism of fire in a way. Then after that you're still not done. You have to take the iron and throughout the rest of your life you have to work on ironing out the wrinkles again until it is perfect enough that you can wear it to the big interview or to return back to heavenly father.
Life isn't over after that. You have to continually go through and do it all again because you're going to make more mistakes after this baptism. You have to continually work on your faith. Then when you make mistakes you go through the process of repenting and scrubbing at the future stains again. Then you can wash it again which is the sacrament where you literally can become just as clean as that baptism day again (just like we wash our clothes each week, we take the sacrament each week!). Then we dry it again or do the things to keep the Holy Ghost with us and we can iron out the wrinkles or our imperfections.
It was so cool teaching that lesson. We taught it with scriptures at each point to help emphasize it all then we wrapped it up perfectly with the scripture: 3 Nephi 27: 19-20. Man I loved teaching that lesson because the spirit was so strong the whole time. Like when I feel the spirit strongly I feel literal tingles and I was tingling throughout the whole lesson! It was so cool to be in it.
Anyway, let's see...
One really cool thing happened this week. After sacrament meeting, the bishop introduced us to someone who was like "what is the process of getting baptized? I want to get baptized. My dad was a member and I just never got baptized so I want to." Holy cow!! You never imagine that just happening to you! She is so great! She is in the process of moving and so she may end up in Reseda (my area) or she may end up in Van Nuys but we'll have to see. She is a YSA, though, so we might be able to teach her anyways through that but it'll depend on if her mom wants to be taught too. We'll just have to see haha! But that was seriously so cool!
Also, there was a cool missionary fireside we put on. I was in the missionary choir (of course :) ) and so everyone stared off in the chapel and then they took half of the people away at first then about 15 or 20 minutes later they took the other half so the groups could be smaller. They went through 4 classes on faith, repentance, baptism, and receiving the holy ghost and the choir got to entertain them with music and Mormon message videos. Then when everyone was done and we met back up all together again, the stake president had a short talk on missionary work and also enduring to the end. It was such a great experience for everyone!! It was really fun too!
So I'm super excited for the Relief Society broadcast this coming week and then General Conference next week! I have no clue if I'll be listening in English or Spanish, but it should be fun either way. I've lately noticed that I am getting better and better at listening and comprehending. Now I just need to especially work on my speaking. Maybe I'll get a nativa in a future transfer and I can speak in mostly Spanish.
Oh yeah, we did this new thing this week where instead of getting frustrated because every time we wanted a member to come we would go through all the members who live in the area and none of them are available... we are now passing a list around of time slots that people can sign up to go out with us. We'll pass that around Relief Society. That has been so helpful! Of course some members ended up falling through, but we did our part to try to make it so there was a lesson for every member instead of the other way around and trying to get a member for every lesson and being frustrated because there are so many schedules to coordinate. It has worked out great and I know as we work on getting members to lessons we'll see even more miracles! They always have such strong testimonies to share of how they found out that the church was true for themselves. We also found out that Eurice who is living here for a few months (she's from Guatemala) wants to go on a mission in a few years. So when we move to our area, we're going to try picking her up in the morning and then having her be with us all day so she can see what missionary life is like. It'll be super fun!
I think that's about all. Have a great week and may the spirit always be with you!
~Hermana Whetten
oh, PS-Sarah, I hope you're doing all right and that the baby'll flip and you can be able to get good sleep sometimes!
Monday, September 17, 2012
A Fire in My Heart
Monday, September 17, 2012
A Fire in My Heart
Oh man! Another week has come and gone. I've learned a lot this week and we've done so much as well.
First thing's first. Since we don't live in our area, we've been having to use up some of the allotted 1,100 miles per month even getting to our area and going home. So the president is having us actually move into our area. We have been spending several hours a week trying to look for apartments, so we found one that seems like it'll be good and last Saturday they put in the 30 day notice in the one we're living in currently since it's lease came up and then on October 1st we'll be moving into the new one. Thus, until that week my North Hills address is perfectly fine, but after that you'll want to use my new address:
Hermana Whitney Whetten
7123 Etiwanda #14
Reseda, CA 91335
I'm pretty excited because that is very central to our area. The neighborhood is pretty good and also pretty Hispanic. It is a little smaller, like the kitchen especially, but it'll definitely work. Also, it is just off of my favorite street here. I think I've told you about Sherman Way, but that street is seriously so beautiful. It has palm trees lining the sides of the street and also the medians. It is the only street that is really like it. I'll have to try to remember to take a picture for you sometime!
Anyway, I guess I'll start off with a few more things about California.
One weird thing is that the license plates here can have symbols too. Like as one of the "letters" there can be a heart or a star or I think I've even seen a handprint. It makes me laugh!
Another cool thing is that a lot of celebrities live in my mission, especially in North Hollywood. But the thing is that I work with the Hispanics and the Hispanics are who work for the celebrities. So we'll just be talking to some Hispanic that we meet or find and they'll just talk about how they got to meet some of these celebrities. For example:
1) Hermana Fish, an hermana in the El Camino area, has a Red Bull that Justin Beiber gave to a worker and the worker gave to her because she kind of has the Beiber Fever (man, I think my English spelling is going! that doesn't look like I spelled it right!). It's really only a pseudo-obsession, or so she says, but we like to tease her about it a little.
2) We were visiting a part member family and got talking to them and the husband works as a caddy (I think that is the name for the people who walk around holding people's golf clubs) at a golf resort thing. Well, one time he got to be the caddy for Clark Kent from Smallville! He got a signature and everything!
3) A person in our ward works for Steven Speilburg!
Holy cow! It is crazy! Obviously that's not what my work is all about, but it is seriously crazy to hear things like that!
Anywhooo....I think the coolest story from this week was that we set another baptism date with Herminia. We found her by going through some of the old referrals that were dropped from the area book. She is seriously so cool and so ready. She has been catholic forever, but when we asked her the questions like "do you believe it is possible for there to be prophets on the earth today" or "do you think there could be more scripture than the Bible" she didn't reply the typical Catholic way at all. She was like, "yeah, I don't see why not" basically. She is so cool! She's going to be taking a trip to Mexico for like 3 weeks, so we won't get to work with her more for a while, but she is so cool and so ready to learn more. And she said that she'd like October 28 as a goal for her baptism date. She was talking about how she had shared the folleto (pamphlet, I guess in English) with her daughter and she liked it. Her daughter has some Mormon friends so they already have somewhat of an idea of what members are like and a little of what the church is about. She was so cool to talk to! Also, she is such a great example of service and charity for me! I want to become more like her. She keeps telling us that she doesn't really have very much, but she likes to give what she can. For instance, she is currently in the process of making a first communion dress for free for a family who can't afford one. When Catholics take the first communion they usually dress up basically in mini wedding dresses. But seriously, this dress she is making looks wedding quality. Like I wouldn't mind her making my future wedding dress it was so pretty! She even sewed on these jewel things by hand. Ha ha! The menos activo person we're working with who has colon cancer (I think I've told you about him--he had his surgery this week for it) is also a tailor for wedding dresses and bride's maid type stuff. So if I want to go that route in the future, I have people who can make the dresses for me ha ha!
But yeah, she is really cool. Another fun thing this past Saturday was that they had the Dia de Hispanidad. It is a big event that the estaka (stake) does once a year and it was so fun! They had tables set up all around the gym and the whole middle filled with chairs. Each ward was given two Hispanic countries to be in charge of and they decorated the tables and walls and provided like taste-testing type foods from their those countries. So we got stuff from Peru, Guatemala, Mexico, the US, Argentina, Bolivia, Honduras, El Salvador, et cetera. It is was so good and so much fun. It was great to have empanadas again (I had them many times when I was in Argentina and they are so good!) After an hour or so of that they had entertainment where the wards also did a dance or song from the countries they were assigned to as well. My ward's countries were El Salvador and the US, so it made me laugh when the young men and women from our ward were grooving to Party Rock Anthem on the stage for one of the presentations from our ward! It was just overall really fun. And it was a great missionary thing too. We had four of our investigators there and we got to meet a potential investigator we've been trying to get a hold of. There are so many Spanish missionaries in the stake! (like in the Reseda 4th ward (mine) there are 6, to give you an idea) so it was really cool to get to meet many more of them too!
I guess really the only other thing I have to share is about how much I love going to church and especially taking of the sacrament. Maybe this doesn't happen to everyone (and maybe it is to me especially because I go to church in a Spanish branch so when I'm not consciously concentrating on what is being said, it is easy to zone out for a few minutes) but it is cool when your mind wanders and you are able to like meditate and find answers to questions or problems at church. Revelation definitely can come through church attendance and that is why it is so important for investigators to come!
So what happened with me is I was having a hard time for a few days this week. I don't know why, but I was just grumpy for whatever reason and it was bad because I was, for instance becoming grumpy at little things my companion did and then I would get mad at myself for being grumpy at her and then I felt like a terribly person and that just made it worse and the cycle just kept on going. In a way it was like I built up a wall around my heart because I didn't want to admit that I was grumpy or whatever, so I'd just keep to myself more for whatever reason. And that is bad because then I can't share my heart with others. I was making myself so tired from all of that. But it was so cool. when I was praying while taking the sacrament, into my mind came this mental image of like a charge then a pause then a huge sonic BOOM which completely blew the wall I had built around my heart to pieces. Then I partook of the water and it was like all the residue fro that explosion was washed away so it was as if it was never there. (I know, it might sound weird that I get these mental images like that, but that is what happens to me sometimes. Like when I pray too) anyway, Then it was like I saw my heart there and it was shiny and golden again and it was ready to be shared with anyone and everyone this week. It is funny because as a kid, I always used to say "you broke my heart" whenever anyone in my family did anything to me. But this week I plan on breaking my heart. Breaking off pieces to share with anyone and everyone who'll take it in this missionary work. But the cool thing is I'll take the sacrament again next week and it'll be there completely whole and unblemished again. He will heal it completely such that I can go another week sharing my whole heart with everyone. It is cool how the atonement works like that... it makes it so you can keep on giving and giving of your heart and yet you never have less heart to give. It's like that story mom used to always tell us of the warm-fuzzies that when you give warm-fuzzies you can keep on giving more and never have less. But when you start keeping your warm-fuzzies to yourself and giving out cold-pricklies instead, you start running out of yourself to give and wearing yourself out.
It is no coincidence that the bread has to be broken in the sacrament. Likewise, it is no coincidence that water is used in the sacrament when water is literally life (if I remember correctly, about 2/3 of the human body is water essentially).
While taking the sacrament, I also got this image of a broken bone... like one of those really bad breaks that completely splits the bone. Your friends or family can try to set it, but it won't be exactly right almost certainly. Thus, the doctor (Jesus) has to come in and rebreak it (like the broken bread) and only afterward can the correct procedure come in to seal it and heal it (the water which is healing). Through this process, the bone will heal completely. And when bone heals, it always heals stronger than it was before.
So that is the significance of the sacrament to me. I feel so clean now and so happy and so ready to take my tabla blanca and start over again this week. That is the miracle of the sacrament. Having experiences like that with the meditation and how strong the spirit is at church is why church attendance is so great! And I really do feel the spirit so strongly in my life once again. Like immediately I was just so much happier again and ready to go out and share my heart with everyone. I am so lucky to be able to feel this love and power of the atonement and likewise to now be able to just go and share that experience with everyone I meet. I'm so grateful for it! It's like there is a newfound fire in my heart and I'm so ready to share it with everyone!!
Sorry, that was kind of a long tangent, but hopefully you don't mind reading through it!
I hope you have the best week of the year this week! Thank you all for your continued support and example for me. In case it's been too long since I've told you, I love you all!
May the Spirit Be With You!!
<3 Hermana Whetten
A Fire in My Heart
Oh man! Another week has come and gone. I've learned a lot this week and we've done so much as well.
First thing's first. Since we don't live in our area, we've been having to use up some of the allotted 1,100 miles per month even getting to our area and going home. So the president is having us actually move into our area. We have been spending several hours a week trying to look for apartments, so we found one that seems like it'll be good and last Saturday they put in the 30 day notice in the one we're living in currently since it's lease came up and then on October 1st we'll be moving into the new one. Thus, until that week my North Hills address is perfectly fine, but after that you'll want to use my new address:
Hermana Whitney Whetten
7123 Etiwanda #14
Reseda, CA 91335
I'm pretty excited because that is very central to our area. The neighborhood is pretty good and also pretty Hispanic. It is a little smaller, like the kitchen especially, but it'll definitely work. Also, it is just off of my favorite street here. I think I've told you about Sherman Way, but that street is seriously so beautiful. It has palm trees lining the sides of the street and also the medians. It is the only street that is really like it. I'll have to try to remember to take a picture for you sometime!
Anyway, I guess I'll start off with a few more things about California.
One weird thing is that the license plates here can have symbols too. Like as one of the "letters" there can be a heart or a star or I think I've even seen a handprint. It makes me laugh!
Another cool thing is that a lot of celebrities live in my mission, especially in North Hollywood. But the thing is that I work with the Hispanics and the Hispanics are who work for the celebrities. So we'll just be talking to some Hispanic that we meet or find and they'll just talk about how they got to meet some of these celebrities. For example:
1) Hermana Fish, an hermana in the El Camino area, has a Red Bull that Justin Beiber gave to a worker and the worker gave to her because she kind of has the Beiber Fever (man, I think my English spelling is going! that doesn't look like I spelled it right!). It's really only a pseudo-obsession, or so she says, but we like to tease her about it a little.
2) We were visiting a part member family and got talking to them and the husband works as a caddy (I think that is the name for the people who walk around holding people's golf clubs) at a golf resort thing. Well, one time he got to be the caddy for Clark Kent from Smallville! He got a signature and everything!
3) A person in our ward works for Steven Speilburg!
Holy cow! It is crazy! Obviously that's not what my work is all about, but it is seriously crazy to hear things like that!
Anywhooo....I think the coolest story from this week was that we set another baptism date with Herminia. We found her by going through some of the old referrals that were dropped from the area book. She is seriously so cool and so ready. She has been catholic forever, but when we asked her the questions like "do you believe it is possible for there to be prophets on the earth today" or "do you think there could be more scripture than the Bible" she didn't reply the typical Catholic way at all. She was like, "yeah, I don't see why not" basically. She is so cool! She's going to be taking a trip to Mexico for like 3 weeks, so we won't get to work with her more for a while, but she is so cool and so ready to learn more. And she said that she'd like October 28 as a goal for her baptism date. She was talking about how she had shared the folleto (pamphlet, I guess in English) with her daughter and she liked it. Her daughter has some Mormon friends so they already have somewhat of an idea of what members are like and a little of what the church is about. She was so cool to talk to! Also, she is such a great example of service and charity for me! I want to become more like her. She keeps telling us that she doesn't really have very much, but she likes to give what she can. For instance, she is currently in the process of making a first communion dress for free for a family who can't afford one. When Catholics take the first communion they usually dress up basically in mini wedding dresses. But seriously, this dress she is making looks wedding quality. Like I wouldn't mind her making my future wedding dress it was so pretty! She even sewed on these jewel things by hand. Ha ha! The menos activo person we're working with who has colon cancer (I think I've told you about him--he had his surgery this week for it) is also a tailor for wedding dresses and bride's maid type stuff. So if I want to go that route in the future, I have people who can make the dresses for me ha ha!
But yeah, she is really cool. Another fun thing this past Saturday was that they had the Dia de Hispanidad. It is a big event that the estaka (stake) does once a year and it was so fun! They had tables set up all around the gym and the whole middle filled with chairs. Each ward was given two Hispanic countries to be in charge of and they decorated the tables and walls and provided like taste-testing type foods from their those countries. So we got stuff from Peru, Guatemala, Mexico, the US, Argentina, Bolivia, Honduras, El Salvador, et cetera. It is was so good and so much fun. It was great to have empanadas again (I had them many times when I was in Argentina and they are so good!) After an hour or so of that they had entertainment where the wards also did a dance or song from the countries they were assigned to as well. My ward's countries were El Salvador and the US, so it made me laugh when the young men and women from our ward were grooving to Party Rock Anthem on the stage for one of the presentations from our ward! It was just overall really fun. And it was a great missionary thing too. We had four of our investigators there and we got to meet a potential investigator we've been trying to get a hold of. There are so many Spanish missionaries in the stake! (like in the Reseda 4th ward (mine) there are 6, to give you an idea) so it was really cool to get to meet many more of them too!
I guess really the only other thing I have to share is about how much I love going to church and especially taking of the sacrament. Maybe this doesn't happen to everyone (and maybe it is to me especially because I go to church in a Spanish branch so when I'm not consciously concentrating on what is being said, it is easy to zone out for a few minutes) but it is cool when your mind wanders and you are able to like meditate and find answers to questions or problems at church. Revelation definitely can come through church attendance and that is why it is so important for investigators to come!
So what happened with me is I was having a hard time for a few days this week. I don't know why, but I was just grumpy for whatever reason and it was bad because I was, for instance becoming grumpy at little things my companion did and then I would get mad at myself for being grumpy at her and then I felt like a terribly person and that just made it worse and the cycle just kept on going. In a way it was like I built up a wall around my heart because I didn't want to admit that I was grumpy or whatever, so I'd just keep to myself more for whatever reason. And that is bad because then I can't share my heart with others. I was making myself so tired from all of that. But it was so cool. when I was praying while taking the sacrament, into my mind came this mental image of like a charge then a pause then a huge sonic BOOM which completely blew the wall I had built around my heart to pieces. Then I partook of the water and it was like all the residue fro that explosion was washed away so it was as if it was never there. (I know, it might sound weird that I get these mental images like that, but that is what happens to me sometimes. Like when I pray too) anyway, Then it was like I saw my heart there and it was shiny and golden again and it was ready to be shared with anyone and everyone this week. It is funny because as a kid, I always used to say "you broke my heart" whenever anyone in my family did anything to me. But this week I plan on breaking my heart. Breaking off pieces to share with anyone and everyone who'll take it in this missionary work. But the cool thing is I'll take the sacrament again next week and it'll be there completely whole and unblemished again. He will heal it completely such that I can go another week sharing my whole heart with everyone. It is cool how the atonement works like that... it makes it so you can keep on giving and giving of your heart and yet you never have less heart to give. It's like that story mom used to always tell us of the warm-fuzzies that when you give warm-fuzzies you can keep on giving more and never have less. But when you start keeping your warm-fuzzies to yourself and giving out cold-pricklies instead, you start running out of yourself to give and wearing yourself out.
It is no coincidence that the bread has to be broken in the sacrament. Likewise, it is no coincidence that water is used in the sacrament when water is literally life (if I remember correctly, about 2/3 of the human body is water essentially).
While taking the sacrament, I also got this image of a broken bone... like one of those really bad breaks that completely splits the bone. Your friends or family can try to set it, but it won't be exactly right almost certainly. Thus, the doctor (Jesus) has to come in and rebreak it (like the broken bread) and only afterward can the correct procedure come in to seal it and heal it (the water which is healing). Through this process, the bone will heal completely. And when bone heals, it always heals stronger than it was before.
So that is the significance of the sacrament to me. I feel so clean now and so happy and so ready to take my tabla blanca and start over again this week. That is the miracle of the sacrament. Having experiences like that with the meditation and how strong the spirit is at church is why church attendance is so great! And I really do feel the spirit so strongly in my life once again. Like immediately I was just so much happier again and ready to go out and share my heart with everyone. I am so lucky to be able to feel this love and power of the atonement and likewise to now be able to just go and share that experience with everyone I meet. I'm so grateful for it! It's like there is a newfound fire in my heart and I'm so ready to share it with everyone!!
Sorry, that was kind of a long tangent, but hopefully you don't mind reading through it!
I hope you have the best week of the year this week! Thank you all for your continued support and example for me. In case it's been too long since I've told you, I love you all!
May the Spirit Be With You!!
<3 Hermana Whetten
Monday, August 27, 2012
1 month mark. Crazy!
How crazy! I hit my one month in the mission field mark this week! que loco!
So this was a little bit harder of a week. Take Friday, for instance... we had fantastic plans: 6 lessons, 4 of which were going to be members present. One by one by one every single one of them was cancelled. Likewise, one of our non-active members that we've been trying to visit left us a note basically saying that she didn't want us to visit any more and in fact, she wanted her records to be removed from the church. We had baptism dates set with this really sweet 8 year old boy, Jeremiah (I forget if I've told you about him or not) who was so happy reading his Book of Mormon and praying every night (and we were also teaching his grandma). We came over and the mom said she was talking to the preacher and she didn't want us to come over anymore because he said it would be bad for Jeremiah to become confused because he is at such a young age. That was just the icing on the cake. We love Jeremiah so much. He was one of those investigators that just made me happy. Like whenever something sad happened, I'd just have to think to myself "it's okay, at least I get to teach Jeremiah tomorrow." He was so excited when we told him "of course, you can be baptized!" He was so excited when we gave him a Book of Mormon. When we weren't able to visit the grandma for a while because her back hurt, he eventually told us, "even if you can't teach my grandma when you come back on Friday, can you teach me?" And now because of that preacher that talked to the mom, we won't be able to teach him. And that was devastating. We were so sad! We definitely shed a few tears. Basically it seems like everything that could go wrong did that day.
But from having to go through that our companionship grew a little stronger. Likewise, I believe that I became more converted to the gospel. It would be easy to be disappointed because our numbers looked bad this week because of things beyond our control. And because missionary work is almost completely based on things beyond the control of our own agency, it is easy to get upset and feel like everything bad happens to you. But I realized that numbers and feelings like that are completely selfish. The numbers didn't matter at all. What mattered was that these people are making choices that are bringing them away from heavenly father and true happiness. And that is devastating. How my day goes doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things. I could get that same type of day every single day for the rest of my mission and it doesn't really matter. I will have known that I did the best with my own agency in inviting others to come unto Christ. Hopefully my day isn't like that every single day for the rest of my mission, but if it is I will not be any less converted to Christ. I am not a fair-weather missionary: just being happy and working hard when you have the right conditions. I am a missionary that will keep working despite the conditions and despite how many people reject me. Why? No matter how many sad things I go through on my mission, it isn't even a fraction compared to Christ. I am a disciple of Christ. How can I be expected to call myself a disciple of Christ if I haven't gone through that infinitesimally small portion of what He went through during the atonement?
But yeah, last week was just one of those weeks. I'm hoping that all of that will turn around this week and we'll be blessed with miracles.
Oh yeah, we're going to be looking for an apartment in our area to move into sometime soon. Since we don't live in our area we are wasting gas everyday having to drive to and from our apartment to even get to our area. Likewise, when we have to pick up the other hermanas for activities, we have to go way out of the way. So we're looking for something in our area. We're going to check out a couple after this today. I'm not sure when we'd be moving, but I'll keep you updated so you can have my latest address etc. I'm pretty sure we won't be moving this week at least and probably not next either, but I don't know.
Hmm... I don't really have much else to share from last week, so I guess I'll say some random things about the mission...
The apartment from the Karate Kid is not too far away from my area. On some future preparation day, we're planning to go there to take some pictures etc.
The roads and driving are very different. Like you can park on like any street almost (except highways obviously). The only time you can't park is a few hours for whatever time the street cleaner comes for that particular street. If you do that you get a ticket. You can take U-turns practically anywhere. The drivers are pretty crazy. Last Saturday we actually saw an accident right in front of us when we were walking back to our car. Crazy! But there is this one road in particular that I really like when we drive down. It is called Sherman Way and I'm not sure if you can look it up online or not, but it is lined with palm trees which is super pretty! There are palm trees randomly all over the place, but that street has them more organized so it is prettier.
There are also different types of palm trees and to keep them looking pretty people have to scale the palm trees and cut off all the old dead palms. Otherwise it will just keep growing upward with the dead stuff piling on dead stuff stuck to the tree and it is like the tree has a big beard and it is just like hairy.
The food here of the Latinos is really good. They serve corn tortillas with like practically everything. There are also some new stuff I've tried. For instance, they have a thing called horchata. It is a drink that is kind of like milk but with like flour or cinnamon stuff mixed in (depending on if you're doing the Mexican or El Salvador type). Papusas are delicious! It is like a kind of homemade thicker tortilla with delicious stuff stuffed inside it. There are bean kinds, meat kinds, cheese kinds, etc. They also do their tacos differently. They take the corn tortillas that are soft and just do little small ones that you fold up. You put the meat mixture, the chopped up onion, the chopped up cilantro, and the salsa in it and that is it.
The vast majority of the members here are first generation converts. Like I'd guess even somewhere around 90-95% I'm in a Spanish stake, so that makes a difference, but it is really interesting dynamics because usually the ward missionaries can take over after baptism and help teach the new convert lessons etc, but they depend so much more on the missionaries because most of them are newer.
There are also a lot of poor people here. There are people on carts who are food venders selling whatever. On Saturdays and Sundays there is someone outside our apartment who sells Tamales and they scream out that word for hours on end and most of the time it doesn't sound like that. It sounds like some type of horn or weird animal call. But it is pretty sad. There are quite a few illegal immigrants I've met too, both in the church and on the street just saying "no tengo mis papeles" -- I don't have my papers. You can tell the missionaries from the ward who were from illegal families because they are sent to a different mission in California and they can't use the planes so the family has to drive them to and from the MTC.
All the apartments have gates so when we want to get in we have to wait around until someone lets us in going in or out.
The children all speak English because school is in English so they are taught English from Kindergarten etc. None of them remember if it was hard to learn English or not because they were still young when they learned.
The members are so extremely nice to the missionaries. They love us. They would pretty much bend over backwards for us. Maybe that is because most of them are first generation converts who understand how important this work is. But yeah it is really nice. We try to offer service all the time and most just won't let us. They scold us when we try to even take the plates to the kitchen.
One other random thing that I've been learning a lot about. I can't tell you how many times I've heard someone say that they knew this church was the true church because of a dream even just this month. I never would have even thought of that as being a method of spiritual communication because I'm white and we're taught that dreams don't really mean anything. But they have the blood of Lehi and Nephi etc and so to them dreams are so big and are often the way that they find out the truthfulness for themselves. Crazy, right? But it is also pretty cool!
Anyway, I should probably go soon. But if any of you have questions for me about what it is like here or anything, feel free to ask! I'd love to tell you about it!
Have a great week and may the spirit be with you!
~Hermana Whetten
So this was a little bit harder of a week. Take Friday, for instance... we had fantastic plans: 6 lessons, 4 of which were going to be members present. One by one by one every single one of them was cancelled. Likewise, one of our non-active members that we've been trying to visit left us a note basically saying that she didn't want us to visit any more and in fact, she wanted her records to be removed from the church. We had baptism dates set with this really sweet 8 year old boy, Jeremiah (I forget if I've told you about him or not) who was so happy reading his Book of Mormon and praying every night (and we were also teaching his grandma). We came over and the mom said she was talking to the preacher and she didn't want us to come over anymore because he said it would be bad for Jeremiah to become confused because he is at such a young age. That was just the icing on the cake. We love Jeremiah so much. He was one of those investigators that just made me happy. Like whenever something sad happened, I'd just have to think to myself "it's okay, at least I get to teach Jeremiah tomorrow." He was so excited when we told him "of course, you can be baptized!" He was so excited when we gave him a Book of Mormon. When we weren't able to visit the grandma for a while because her back hurt, he eventually told us, "even if you can't teach my grandma when you come back on Friday, can you teach me?" And now because of that preacher that talked to the mom, we won't be able to teach him. And that was devastating. We were so sad! We definitely shed a few tears. Basically it seems like everything that could go wrong did that day.
But from having to go through that our companionship grew a little stronger. Likewise, I believe that I became more converted to the gospel. It would be easy to be disappointed because our numbers looked bad this week because of things beyond our control. And because missionary work is almost completely based on things beyond the control of our own agency, it is easy to get upset and feel like everything bad happens to you. But I realized that numbers and feelings like that are completely selfish. The numbers didn't matter at all. What mattered was that these people are making choices that are bringing them away from heavenly father and true happiness. And that is devastating. How my day goes doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things. I could get that same type of day every single day for the rest of my mission and it doesn't really matter. I will have known that I did the best with my own agency in inviting others to come unto Christ. Hopefully my day isn't like that every single day for the rest of my mission, but if it is I will not be any less converted to Christ. I am not a fair-weather missionary: just being happy and working hard when you have the right conditions. I am a missionary that will keep working despite the conditions and despite how many people reject me. Why? No matter how many sad things I go through on my mission, it isn't even a fraction compared to Christ. I am a disciple of Christ. How can I be expected to call myself a disciple of Christ if I haven't gone through that infinitesimally small portion of what He went through during the atonement?
But yeah, last week was just one of those weeks. I'm hoping that all of that will turn around this week and we'll be blessed with miracles.
Oh yeah, we're going to be looking for an apartment in our area to move into sometime soon. Since we don't live in our area we are wasting gas everyday having to drive to and from our apartment to even get to our area. Likewise, when we have to pick up the other hermanas for activities, we have to go way out of the way. So we're looking for something in our area. We're going to check out a couple after this today. I'm not sure when we'd be moving, but I'll keep you updated so you can have my latest address etc. I'm pretty sure we won't be moving this week at least and probably not next either, but I don't know.
Hmm... I don't really have much else to share from last week, so I guess I'll say some random things about the mission...
The apartment from the Karate Kid is not too far away from my area. On some future preparation day, we're planning to go there to take some pictures etc.
The roads and driving are very different. Like you can park on like any street almost (except highways obviously). The only time you can't park is a few hours for whatever time the street cleaner comes for that particular street. If you do that you get a ticket. You can take U-turns practically anywhere. The drivers are pretty crazy. Last Saturday we actually saw an accident right in front of us when we were walking back to our car. Crazy! But there is this one road in particular that I really like when we drive down. It is called Sherman Way and I'm not sure if you can look it up online or not, but it is lined with palm trees which is super pretty! There are palm trees randomly all over the place, but that street has them more organized so it is prettier.
There are also different types of palm trees and to keep them looking pretty people have to scale the palm trees and cut off all the old dead palms. Otherwise it will just keep growing upward with the dead stuff piling on dead stuff stuck to the tree and it is like the tree has a big beard and it is just like hairy.
The food here of the Latinos is really good. They serve corn tortillas with like practically everything. There are also some new stuff I've tried. For instance, they have a thing called horchata. It is a drink that is kind of like milk but with like flour or cinnamon stuff mixed in (depending on if you're doing the Mexican or El Salvador type). Papusas are delicious! It is like a kind of homemade thicker tortilla with delicious stuff stuffed inside it. There are bean kinds, meat kinds, cheese kinds, etc. They also do their tacos differently. They take the corn tortillas that are soft and just do little small ones that you fold up. You put the meat mixture, the chopped up onion, the chopped up cilantro, and the salsa in it and that is it.
The vast majority of the members here are first generation converts. Like I'd guess even somewhere around 90-95% I'm in a Spanish stake, so that makes a difference, but it is really interesting dynamics because usually the ward missionaries can take over after baptism and help teach the new convert lessons etc, but they depend so much more on the missionaries because most of them are newer.
There are also a lot of poor people here. There are people on carts who are food venders selling whatever. On Saturdays and Sundays there is someone outside our apartment who sells Tamales and they scream out that word for hours on end and most of the time it doesn't sound like that. It sounds like some type of horn or weird animal call. But it is pretty sad. There are quite a few illegal immigrants I've met too, both in the church and on the street just saying "no tengo mis papeles" -- I don't have my papers. You can tell the missionaries from the ward who were from illegal families because they are sent to a different mission in California and they can't use the planes so the family has to drive them to and from the MTC.
All the apartments have gates so when we want to get in we have to wait around until someone lets us in going in or out.
The children all speak English because school is in English so they are taught English from Kindergarten etc. None of them remember if it was hard to learn English or not because they were still young when they learned.
The members are so extremely nice to the missionaries. They love us. They would pretty much bend over backwards for us. Maybe that is because most of them are first generation converts who understand how important this work is. But yeah it is really nice. We try to offer service all the time and most just won't let us. They scold us when we try to even take the plates to the kitchen.
One other random thing that I've been learning a lot about. I can't tell you how many times I've heard someone say that they knew this church was the true church because of a dream even just this month. I never would have even thought of that as being a method of spiritual communication because I'm white and we're taught that dreams don't really mean anything. But they have the blood of Lehi and Nephi etc and so to them dreams are so big and are often the way that they find out the truthfulness for themselves. Crazy, right? But it is also pretty cool!
Anyway, I should probably go soon. But if any of you have questions for me about what it is like here or anything, feel free to ask! I'd love to tell you about it!
Have a great week and may the spirit be with you!
~Hermana Whetten
Monday, August 20, 2012
a letter from a missionary
Hello!! Wow! This week I'll already have been here for a month. Just a few more weeks and it's already my first transer out here. I can't believe it. It's just flown by. That's why I can't waste a single hour or a single minute. Otherwise it'll be over already! Crazy!
Shaun, that was so cool to read your letter that your boss has been going to work and is receiving the missionary discussions! You rock! Also, good luck Britt and Court with going back to school. Good luck mom and dad with canning all the peaches and everything. Sarah, how is the pregnancy going? Do you have any more ultrasound pictures? Or pictures in general work too haha. Ryan, YAY I got an e-mail from you! I love you all!
If you want to start looking for a book for me that would be sweet. I don't necessarily need it soon but it would be cool to get it at some point. I believe it is called "1001 Pitfalls in Spanish" or something similar to that. Evidently it is supposed to be really good because it goes through examples of how you might say something in English and then it shows how the translation in spanish isn't exactly the same. A missionary here recommended it highly, but the library's copy of the book is checked out. I think I'd like it if you're able to find it but it doens't have to be right away if it takes a while because I've got plenty I can work on in Spanish right now.
Speaking of Spanish, I love learning it! I think the first few weeks I would zone out sometimes during discussions or church etc because it takes a lot of mental effort to concentrate when you can't exactly understand everything so you're trying to figure out what they're saying by the context. But I am getting to the point where I really do understand so much of what they're saying and it is exciting! It's interesting because the Hispanics here are from everywhere... from Guatemala, Mexico, El Salvador, Columbia, Chile, Honduras, Argentina, et cetera. So we will get all types of dialects but I think that is better because I'll get to the point where I can understand many types of Spanish easily! Well we have this one investigator that we found while knocking...she let us into the house because it was so hot that she didn't want to keep standing at the door. But man, that is one of the few people I can't understand a thing she says because she speaks a mile a minute and doesn't give you an opportunity to say more than a line or two. But I'm excited that at least the understanding is there and I can definitely communicate a lot in not perfect spanish. Eventually I'll get to the point where I can communicate in great Spanish too.
I guess one of the themes that's come up this week is that the Lord really sometimes has to bring people down to low points in life before he can build them back up. Here are a few examples:
1) Hermana Yengley- I believe I told you the start of her story a few weeks ago. So her water had burst so for about a week she had to just lie down flat so that her baby could stay there for as long as possible. Last week she had an emergency c-section and her baby was born last week about 3 or 4 months early. His name is Ethan. He's in the NNICU in Los Angeles and so after she got released she's been driving up there every day to see him. She isn't a member but her husband is a member and before she had the impression of the church that there are many hipocrites in the church and I guess she just expected the members to be better for some reason or another. I'm not sure what happened in the past but that was the point that she was at. But we told the relief society president about her baby being born so they've started bringing food or helping around the house or whatever they can do. We haven't been able to visit her besides texts for a while (we're hoping we can this week!) but through that and through this whole experience her husband tells us she is so much more receptive to the gospel now than ever before. In her case, unfortunately the Lord made her go through this very hard time, but she is coming out of it so much better than before. Oh yeah, Ethan is obviously fighting for his life, but they did a scan and his brain is completely functioning and normal. What a miracle of the priesthood and of God's love!
2) We have a non-active member named Marcos who had been diagnosed with colon cancer last month. The ward wanted us to go visit him (without knowing this) so we did and found that out and were able to get him a priesthood blessing (he didn't think he was worthy to have received this blessing because he hadn't been at church for so long. So it was a miracle that we went when we did and were able to set that up for him!). Luckily it is in the early stages of the cancer, so hopefully the surgeries next month will take care of it. But he also has a wife who is not a member. This news is especially hard for her because just recently she got back from El Salvador (I think) where she had to bury her brother who died. Likewise, she has rheumatoid arthritis. So between those and the news that her husband has cancer, she was just crying and is so stressed and sad. The elders were able to give her a blessing of health and for comfort as well. Then we came and visited with them last week and give them a lesson on the plan of salvation which meant so much to them. We told them how their family can be forever and how that can give us so much hope and joy and comfort in life. She said we can keep coming back to teach her! Also, he came to church for the first time in such a long time yesterday!
3) We ate lunch at a member's house this week and she has a friend she wanted us to go visit, so right after we were done eating we all went over there and met Daisy and her daughter Priscilla. They are such a great family and I especially love Priscilla. I think she's 20 and when she found out that we were missionaries she was like "Oh, so you're fishers!" and we said "yeah, exactly!". I love that she said that! And it means that she reads the Bible and understands it and loves it! But she also understands exactly while we're here. But she was telling us about how she used to be a drug addict and it was through building her faith in Christ that she was able to overcome it all. So she was so excited that we were here so we could help bring her family unto Christ too. I'm so excited for her and know that the Lord has so much in store for her. But once again, it is an example of how the Lord brings people low before he will build them up.
Honestly, I love that thought. But the thing is that after we're built up we tend to be more sure in the faith. I guess it is like Helaman 5:12 and it is because when you're built back up, you're built up on the foundation of Christ. So when the devil will send forth his hail and mighty winds it will have no power to knock us down again because of the sure foundation... the foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.
Even if we're not at the lowest points in life, the gospel can bless us and build us up more. It can become like the refiner's fire so that the little black pieces that are logged in us can little by little be chipped or melted out of us until we finally become that beautiful thing that Heavenly Father always knew we could be. I guess another analogy is a sculptor. At first the chunks being chipped away are huge. But then at the end it becomes finer and finer... there are still the pieces that need to be removed from us, but by just letting go of those things we become so beautiful. Eventually he's able to polish us up and we've become what the Lord wanted us to be. He sees the beginning from the end and he has the plan for us. He knows what he wants us to be. By letting our will not even just bend... but letting our will become the Lord's will we can become that special something that we never would have been able to be on our own.
In a way, I had a few moments this week when I was just tired or grumpy for no big reason at all, but when I was able to just let it go (like the chunks of marble) I was so much happier and had an increased desire to be more full of charity and love for everyone. I really felt like the spirit was able to be in our lessons more abundantly. Like on Saturday we had two lessons in particular where it wasn't us teaching, it was the Spirit. And it was an honor to be in there for that. By letting go of those chunks of marble that the Lord doesn't want, I know I'm becoming a better missionary, a better companion, and a better person. I love this work! I can't even imagine the person I'll be a year from now. I am so lucky to be out here!
That was a lot of the big stuff that happened this week, so I'll go ahead and send it now. But yeah, we also had zone conference this week. It is really interesting that we have so much training all the time. On one hand it could be seen as a waste of time that could have been used for finding more people or teaching more lessons or whatever. Like the zone conference lasted from 9am until 5pm on last Wednesday. But honestly, we need them! It is through all this training as well that we can be come the missionary that isn't just working hard... but is working efficiently and effectively as well.
Anyway, have a great week and may the spirit be with you!!
~Hermana Whitney Whetten
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