6-1-15
Hello, I only have about 10 minutes of emailing time this week because we are having a "Summer" Christmas party for the mission in just a little bit. I'm not sure how to arrange the bike thing so that you can pay for it online. I will probably pack the bike this weekend in a box that I got and then take it in Monday morning. Sorry, I can't really tell you much about my week right now. I will when I get back. I will have a really short emailing block next Monday as well so include any last things that you need to let me know. Thanks! Love you all!
Love,
Elder A. Whaley
Monday, June 1, 2015
Pushing Hard to the End!
5-28-15
Happy Birthday Mom!!
Sorry, I forgot to tell you all this last week, but I wasn't able to email on Monday because we had a temple trip today! So, they just moved our P-day to Thursday as part of the trip. It was so amazing to be able to go to the temple again after so long. Elder Pond and I got to go with a group of other missionaries that are going to be headed home with us soon. We woke up at 3:30 AM in order to be at the temple to do a session at 8 a.m. I can't believe how much has slipped my mind since the last time I have been. I'm excited to go a lot when I get back.
I got a bike box today and will probably end up shipping the bike Monday morning before we leave to the mission home. I heard that there is a website called shipbikes.com and it makes shipping bikes through FedEx cheaper. Maybe you could check into that and see if that is real or not an dif it would be cheaper that way or just sticking with Premier. Please let me know by this upcoming Monday.
We didn't get in a whole lot of trouble for the apartment, but Elder Reynolds ended up getting moved to another area with the Zone Leaders because I think that President Cusick is going to have him be a Zone Leader this upcoming transfer. So now it is just Elder Pond and I working in Riverview. It has been so hard to stay focused, but we are doing our best to keep pushing ourselves hard to the end. I have so many mixed feelings between the excitement of being home and the sadness that I am going to be leaving the mission soon. I'm doing my best to make the most of it. Love you!
Love,
Elder A. Whaley
Happy Birthday Mom!!
Sorry, I forgot to tell you all this last week, but I wasn't able to email on Monday because we had a temple trip today! So, they just moved our P-day to Thursday as part of the trip. It was so amazing to be able to go to the temple again after so long. Elder Pond and I got to go with a group of other missionaries that are going to be headed home with us soon. We woke up at 3:30 AM in order to be at the temple to do a session at 8 a.m. I can't believe how much has slipped my mind since the last time I have been. I'm excited to go a lot when I get back.
I got a bike box today and will probably end up shipping the bike Monday morning before we leave to the mission home. I heard that there is a website called shipbikes.com and it makes shipping bikes through FedEx cheaper. Maybe you could check into that and see if that is real or not an dif it would be cheaper that way or just sticking with Premier. Please let me know by this upcoming Monday.
We didn't get in a whole lot of trouble for the apartment, but Elder Reynolds ended up getting moved to another area with the Zone Leaders because I think that President Cusick is going to have him be a Zone Leader this upcoming transfer. So now it is just Elder Pond and I working in Riverview. It has been so hard to stay focused, but we are doing our best to keep pushing ourselves hard to the end. I have so many mixed feelings between the excitement of being home and the sadness that I am going to be leaving the mission soon. I'm doing my best to make the most of it. Love you!
Love,
Elder A. Whaley
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| Temple Visit |
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| Orlando Temple |
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| Orlando Temple |
Getting ready to Come Home!
5-18-15
I'm sorry that I forgot to send you the lesson. I have it all in my notebook, but I forgot it this week. I will do my best to remember next week and get that to you. I have just felt so busy with working in the area and having to work on some things to prepare to go home. Our mission President is having us do a Post MTC training where we have to outline our goals in life and do some other things, so I have been focusing on that a lot lately. We actually just did a little devotional on the Book of Mormon last night. The comment that I made was that the Book of Mormon is physical evidence of god's love for us, his children. I think that that is a very central point and all other blessings simply tie back to it.
Sorry, but I only have a few minutes left. We have been cleaning our apartment for the last little while and we are going to go fishing with an investigator in a bit, so I will sum everything up really quick.
We set a baptismal date for June 7th with Alan's friend this last week. We gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon and he has already read to 2 Nephi 11 in just one day. Yesterday we got in trouble because our apartment was kind of a big mess and we had an inspection from someone in the mission presidency. We usually clean everything up Mondays on P-day, but they decided to do the inspection on Sunday. We will have a Zone Conference tomorrow, so we will see if President Cusick says anything to us about it. But as of right now, everything is spic and span.
I hope that you all have a good week and that you all are safe.
Love,
Elder A. Whaley
I'm sorry that I forgot to send you the lesson. I have it all in my notebook, but I forgot it this week. I will do my best to remember next week and get that to you. I have just felt so busy with working in the area and having to work on some things to prepare to go home. Our mission President is having us do a Post MTC training where we have to outline our goals in life and do some other things, so I have been focusing on that a lot lately. We actually just did a little devotional on the Book of Mormon last night. The comment that I made was that the Book of Mormon is physical evidence of god's love for us, his children. I think that that is a very central point and all other blessings simply tie back to it.
Sorry, but I only have a few minutes left. We have been cleaning our apartment for the last little while and we are going to go fishing with an investigator in a bit, so I will sum everything up really quick.
We set a baptismal date for June 7th with Alan's friend this last week. We gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon and he has already read to 2 Nephi 11 in just one day. Yesterday we got in trouble because our apartment was kind of a big mess and we had an inspection from someone in the mission presidency. We usually clean everything up Mondays on P-day, but they decided to do the inspection on Sunday. We will have a Zone Conference tomorrow, so we will see if President Cusick says anything to us about it. But as of right now, everything is spic and span.
I hope that you all have a good week and that you all are safe.
Love,
Elder A. Whaley
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| Zone Conference inspections! Elder Reynolds, Whaley, and Pond |
Fantastic Week! A lot of Blessings!
5-4-15
Well, this last week was fantastic! We had some great weather throughout the week and we saw a lot of blessings and miracles in the work. For some reason, there has been almost no humidity in the last 4 or so days and it has made biking and traveling around so much nicer and bearable. We did not run into a lot of people on the streets to talk to, but we were still able to get a lot of work done. We didn't have any issues with our bikes this week and that helped out a lot.
This last Saturday we were invited to go with a member family to their son's baseball game to support him and meet some of their friends who are not members of the church. It was the first game that I have been to in over a year on my mission and it was a lot of fun. After the game we went over to the member's home for brunch and had crepes. They were so good! We got to know the family better while we were there and I found out that one of their children is going to be going to BYUI this coming Fall for school. After brunch, we sat down and watched "Joseph Smith, The Prophet of the Restoration" with their nonmember friends. You could definitely feel the Spirit during the movie and we had a great discussion following it.
On Saturday evening, we ran into a dog that was like the dog on the movie "The Sandlot". It was absolutely huge and had a deep bark! We were trying to contact a less-active member of the church, but we didn't really get much further than the gate. Too bad I didn't take a picture of it.
Sunday was the baptism for Alan, and everything worked out great. We almost made it to the service late because we were stranded at a birthday party at a park for one of the members and we were waiting for our ride to the baptism. We managed to make it there about 5 minutes before, though, and everything went very smoothly. One of Alan's friends did the talk on baptism and I gave the talk on the Gift of the Holy Ghost. Elder Pond was the one who baptized Alan and he almost did it backwards with his left hand raised to the square. I think he was a little tired that day, so he wasn't thinking completely clear. Haha. We corrected him, though, and it was a great experience for Alan. Right after the baptism was performed, we talked to Alan's nonmember friend that he invited to the service, Cory, and asked him what he thought about it and he said that he wanted to get baptized, as well. He said that he loved the way he felt as he watched Alan being baptized. So, hopefully, we can start to teach him, as well, and possibly the whole family!
This last week has been really great and I am looking forward for this next week. I hope that all goes well for you this next week and that you make the most of it.
Love,
Elder A. Whaley
Well, this last week was fantastic! We had some great weather throughout the week and we saw a lot of blessings and miracles in the work. For some reason, there has been almost no humidity in the last 4 or so days and it has made biking and traveling around so much nicer and bearable. We did not run into a lot of people on the streets to talk to, but we were still able to get a lot of work done. We didn't have any issues with our bikes this week and that helped out a lot.
This last Saturday we were invited to go with a member family to their son's baseball game to support him and meet some of their friends who are not members of the church. It was the first game that I have been to in over a year on my mission and it was a lot of fun. After the game we went over to the member's home for brunch and had crepes. They were so good! We got to know the family better while we were there and I found out that one of their children is going to be going to BYUI this coming Fall for school. After brunch, we sat down and watched "Joseph Smith, The Prophet of the Restoration" with their nonmember friends. You could definitely feel the Spirit during the movie and we had a great discussion following it.
On Saturday evening, we ran into a dog that was like the dog on the movie "The Sandlot". It was absolutely huge and had a deep bark! We were trying to contact a less-active member of the church, but we didn't really get much further than the gate. Too bad I didn't take a picture of it.
Sunday was the baptism for Alan, and everything worked out great. We almost made it to the service late because we were stranded at a birthday party at a park for one of the members and we were waiting for our ride to the baptism. We managed to make it there about 5 minutes before, though, and everything went very smoothly. One of Alan's friends did the talk on baptism and I gave the talk on the Gift of the Holy Ghost. Elder Pond was the one who baptized Alan and he almost did it backwards with his left hand raised to the square. I think he was a little tired that day, so he wasn't thinking completely clear. Haha. We corrected him, though, and it was a great experience for Alan. Right after the baptism was performed, we talked to Alan's nonmember friend that he invited to the service, Cory, and asked him what he thought about it and he said that he wanted to get baptized, as well. He said that he loved the way he felt as he watched Alan being baptized. So, hopefully, we can start to teach him, as well, and possibly the whole family!
This last week has been really great and I am looking forward for this next week. I hope that all goes well for you this next week and that you make the most of it.
Love,
Elder A. Whaley
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| Alan's baptism |
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| Elder Whaley (on the left) and Reynolds raking the mounds/bases to help out! |
Sunday, May 3, 2015
First Flat Tire!
4-27-15
This week was very hot! We are getting closer and closer to summer and it just keeps getting a little bit hotter every day. We biked about 140 miles this week and we had quite a few bike repairs take place because we have worn our bikes into the ground. I got my first flat tire on my mission last week. Luckily, it was right in front of a bike shop, so I just bought a new tube and then we walked home and got it fixed. The next day Elder Reynolds got a flat tire on his new road bike tires that he bought. We were about 4 miles from a shop when this happened. We ended up walking to our teaching appointment and then walking to a bike shop afterwards to get it fixed. Somehow, we were able to make it to all of our teaching appointments, regardless of the fact that we had to walk to all of them. Towards the end of the week, we replaced our rear cassettes and chains because those were worn to nothing. We had a member replace it for us and now our bikes are working great again. I think that is the first time that I have had to replace anything on my bike being out here.
We got to go to another ward's baptismal service this last Saturday and bring one of our investigators who is getting baptized this coming Sunday. His name is Alan. He has had no problems in his progress so far and his parents are supportive of his decision. Elder Pond is going to be baptizing him and Elder Reynolds will be confirming him the following Sunday. I'm pretty excited for it.
This last transfer just ended and we got transfer emails. All three of us are staying together, which I am very happy about. So, Elder Reynolds will kill us off and possibly stay for another transfer to show a new Elder around the area. I'm very excited to see what will happen this transfer as we continue to work.
Love,
Elder A. Whaley
This week was very hot! We are getting closer and closer to summer and it just keeps getting a little bit hotter every day. We biked about 140 miles this week and we had quite a few bike repairs take place because we have worn our bikes into the ground. I got my first flat tire on my mission last week. Luckily, it was right in front of a bike shop, so I just bought a new tube and then we walked home and got it fixed. The next day Elder Reynolds got a flat tire on his new road bike tires that he bought. We were about 4 miles from a shop when this happened. We ended up walking to our teaching appointment and then walking to a bike shop afterwards to get it fixed. Somehow, we were able to make it to all of our teaching appointments, regardless of the fact that we had to walk to all of them. Towards the end of the week, we replaced our rear cassettes and chains because those were worn to nothing. We had a member replace it for us and now our bikes are working great again. I think that is the first time that I have had to replace anything on my bike being out here.
We got to go to another ward's baptismal service this last Saturday and bring one of our investigators who is getting baptized this coming Sunday. His name is Alan. He has had no problems in his progress so far and his parents are supportive of his decision. Elder Pond is going to be baptizing him and Elder Reynolds will be confirming him the following Sunday. I'm pretty excited for it.
This last transfer just ended and we got transfer emails. All three of us are staying together, which I am very happy about. So, Elder Reynolds will kill us off and possibly stay for another transfer to show a new Elder around the area. I'm very excited to see what will happen this transfer as we continue to work.
Love,
Elder A. Whaley
Mini-MTC Experience
4-20-15
This last week was great! It was cloudy most of the week, so it wasn't extremely hot, but the humidity definitely was kicked up a notch to make up the difference. We did a whole lot of biking, I think around 180 miles this week. I think all it does is make me eat more because I get super hungry from it.
This last week we were able to set a baptismal date with one of our investigators who is super solid. He is 17 years old and he is extremely smart. He actually understands what he reads in the Book of Mormon and he has kept every single commitment that we have left with him to keep. The first week he came to church he showed up in a button shirt and jeans, and this last week he bought 3 pairs of shirts, a tie, and some shoes and slacks to use. He loves all of the young men and he is just a great kid. His baptism will be at the beginning of May.
This last Saturday our Stake held its annual Mini-MTC for all of the youth in the Stake, ages 14 and up. It was such an amazing experience. It started at 8 a.m. and went to 7 p.m. In the morning we received our group of 7 missionaries and assigned their companions. Throughout the day we went over chapters of Preach My Gospel and talked about a number of different things that would help prepare them for their missions. At the end of the night they had to teach a member family the "Gospel of Jesus Christ" from P.M.G., so all of their studies were centered around that. Many of them were pretty nervous, but they all really enjoyed it. They all did their lessons in the cultural hall with their families. They had an hour and a half long visit with them where the family member that served in the mission that they were called to talked about their mission and the culture and other things, and the last 30 minutes was given to the youth to teach their lesson. We didn't get to sit in on the lesson, but they said it went great. Everyone in our District had a call to the Philippines. These are pictures of our district. They are all studs!
Love,
Elder A. Whaley
This last week was great! It was cloudy most of the week, so it wasn't extremely hot, but the humidity definitely was kicked up a notch to make up the difference. We did a whole lot of biking, I think around 180 miles this week. I think all it does is make me eat more because I get super hungry from it.
This last week we were able to set a baptismal date with one of our investigators who is super solid. He is 17 years old and he is extremely smart. He actually understands what he reads in the Book of Mormon and he has kept every single commitment that we have left with him to keep. The first week he came to church he showed up in a button shirt and jeans, and this last week he bought 3 pairs of shirts, a tie, and some shoes and slacks to use. He loves all of the young men and he is just a great kid. His baptism will be at the beginning of May.
This last Saturday our Stake held its annual Mini-MTC for all of the youth in the Stake, ages 14 and up. It was such an amazing experience. It started at 8 a.m. and went to 7 p.m. In the morning we received our group of 7 missionaries and assigned their companions. Throughout the day we went over chapters of Preach My Gospel and talked about a number of different things that would help prepare them for their missions. At the end of the night they had to teach a member family the "Gospel of Jesus Christ" from P.M.G., so all of their studies were centered around that. Many of them were pretty nervous, but they all really enjoyed it. They all did their lessons in the cultural hall with their families. They had an hour and a half long visit with them where the family member that served in the mission that they were called to talked about their mission and the culture and other things, and the last 30 minutes was given to the youth to teach their lesson. We didn't get to sit in on the lesson, but they said it went great. Everyone in our District had a call to the Philippines. These are pictures of our district. They are all studs!
Love,
Elder A. Whaley
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| Mini-MTC Elders |
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| Mini-MTC Elders |
Saturday, April 18, 2015
Loving his new are/Companions!
4-13-15
Thank you for writing me and letting me know about what is going on at home with Grandma and you guys. Things are going great for me here.
This last week has been a lot of work and a lot of fun! Throughout this last week we biked about 150 miles to get around our area. The entire mission is on full bike right now because President Cusick feels that we are missing too many opportunities to talk to people and teach them on the street, so no one is allowed to use their car for the next 3 weeks, except for shopping on P-days and going to meetings.
We have found a few new investigators this last week that we have been teaching and two of them are working towards baptism. They are both youth and they are completely solid in the Gospel and keeping commitments. The only obstacle would be to make sure that their parents are supportive of their decision.
Elder Reynolds and Pond are great! I talk a lot about hunting and doing outdoor stuff with Elder Reynolds and I talk about a bunch of random other stuff with Elder Pond. Elder Pond's main source of food is rice and he eats a ton of it. He got really use to it in Africa, so that is all he eats here. He has a giant 20 lb. bag of it and he always eats some for lunch and dinner.
Yesterday, Elder Pond and I were asked to give talks in sacrament about the temple and about why they are important and how we can work towards the Temple. I'm glad that I was given this topic because I honestly haven't thought about the Temple that much since I haven't been able to go to one for such a long time. I learned so much and both of our talks ended up very well. It's pretty much a tradition for me now that whenever I go to a new ward, they always have me speak within the first couple of weeks that I'm there.
Tomorrow we have a Zone Conference in Tampa and I will get to see Elder Baumgartner and my other trainee, Elder Swallow to see how they are both doing. I'm excited for that. I hope that you all have a great week. Love you!
Love,
Elder A. Whaley
Thank you for writing me and letting me know about what is going on at home with Grandma and you guys. Things are going great for me here.
This last week has been a lot of work and a lot of fun! Throughout this last week we biked about 150 miles to get around our area. The entire mission is on full bike right now because President Cusick feels that we are missing too many opportunities to talk to people and teach them on the street, so no one is allowed to use their car for the next 3 weeks, except for shopping on P-days and going to meetings.
We have found a few new investigators this last week that we have been teaching and two of them are working towards baptism. They are both youth and they are completely solid in the Gospel and keeping commitments. The only obstacle would be to make sure that their parents are supportive of their decision.
Elder Reynolds and Pond are great! I talk a lot about hunting and doing outdoor stuff with Elder Reynolds and I talk about a bunch of random other stuff with Elder Pond. Elder Pond's main source of food is rice and he eats a ton of it. He got really use to it in Africa, so that is all he eats here. He has a giant 20 lb. bag of it and he always eats some for lunch and dinner.
Yesterday, Elder Pond and I were asked to give talks in sacrament about the temple and about why they are important and how we can work towards the Temple. I'm glad that I was given this topic because I honestly haven't thought about the Temple that much since I haven't been able to go to one for such a long time. I learned so much and both of our talks ended up very well. It's pretty much a tradition for me now that whenever I go to a new ward, they always have me speak within the first couple of weeks that I'm there.
Tomorrow we have a Zone Conference in Tampa and I will get to see Elder Baumgartner and my other trainee, Elder Swallow to see how they are both doing. I'm excited for that. I hope that you all have a great week. Love you!
Love,
Elder A. Whaley
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