3-24-14
I can believe that I have been out for 9 months, but it's weird!!!!! When I think about it, it feels like it's been such a long time, but it also feels like I just barely got out here. I hope that Vanessa's performance goes well and that she does her best. As of right now, those possible baptisms are still up in the air. The people want to wait a little longer before they make any decisions, but one of them showed up to Sacrament yesterday, so that was great! This whole week was great, though. This week we were very blessed. I'm not sure exactly how, but we got 27 lessons this week, and we went on 4 splits with some of the ward members. I think the most lessons I have ever gotten in a week was 16, so this week was a huge success for us! The only explanation that I could think of how this happened would be us working hard and the ward's special fast and challenge that we are doing. The ward is taking on the challenge to read the Book of Mormon in 90 days and have someone signed up to fast every day during this time for the challenge and missionary work, and it is working!!! We are finding new people to teach and we are getting referrals from members and church headquarters and people are letting us into their homes. I guess it just goes to show what great blessings come from being united in a cause and effort in something. Now the trick is to keep it going. I have been exhausted from it, but at least it is for a good reason. Rarely have I ever been led to someone on my mission. Most of the time it's someone who runs into you along the street or something. There have been so many times where I question if a thought I had to say or do something was from the Holy Ghost, and I realize that it was after the opportunity has passed, and other times it is pretty clear that it is from the Holy Ghost, and I know to act on it. I can see that over time, I am beginning to more easily distinguish the promptings of the Holy Ghost and that has helped me learn a lot and become a better missionary.
My personal studies have been awesome! I am currently going through the Book of Mormon more in depth. I've started it a few times on my mission, but I haven't gotten very far in it before I stop and get into something else. So now I am going through it all and marking a bunch of things in it. I am learning so many things that I never caught before when just reading through it. Now it takes me an entire hour to go through about 3-4 pages with all of the notes that I am taking. At this rate it will probably take me quite a while to get through the whole thing, but I will have that much of a stronger testimony of it by the time I'm done. How has your studying been going?
Want to know something crazy? I have gained 20 pounds in this area since I've been here, and not in fat. We have been doing a workout program from an exercise book that we got a while ago, and I've definitely gained some muscle from it.
I'm excited to get your letter and hear your missionary experience, Mom. I hope that you have a great week and that all goes well. Love ya!!!!
Love,
Elder A. Whaley
Sunday, March 30, 2014
Monday, March 17, 2014
Hoping for a couple Baptisms
3-17-14
Ya, I saw the article on Jordan that you sent. That's so crazy. It sounds like he is definitely being watched over right now. All of those things that you mentioned going on sound sad, but it's really a blessing to know that the things we understand about the Plan of Salvation, so that we can have peace when things like that happen. It sounds like you had a really great Sacrament meeting. Ours was really great, as well. There was a youth speaker who talked about being an example in all things, and the two adult speakers talked about the importance of enduring to the end. Each of them put a huge emphasis on making sure that nothing gets in the way of attending church every week and partaking of the Sacrament. The second adult who spoke was from the High Council and he told us that he was less-active for years and always found an excuse not to come to church, but he eventually came to realize what bad decisions he was making by neglecting to come to church. The part that stunk was that there were no less-active members at church that week. It always seems to work that way. The people who would benefit from a certain message the most are the ones that don't hear it. Oh well. That picture of all those missionaries in the 5K were in my last area, so I would have been able to do it if I was still there, and there are a lot of other runs in the mission, but none that are close by me. I want to do the tough mudder, buuuutttt, I don't think that that would be allowed. (?) Things have been going pretty well here. There weather has been pretty nice, we have had a good number of lessons, and we might be able to set a baptismal date or two this week if things go well, so I'm excited to see if that will happen. We also have interviews with president this week, so that will be good. How's the weather at home? Is there still any snow? Have Corbin's parents told you who he is doing? I haven't heard back from him since he got out to Japan. Anyway, love ya. I hope you have a great week.
Love,
Elder A. Whaley
Ya, I saw the article on Jordan that you sent. That's so crazy. It sounds like he is definitely being watched over right now. All of those things that you mentioned going on sound sad, but it's really a blessing to know that the things we understand about the Plan of Salvation, so that we can have peace when things like that happen. It sounds like you had a really great Sacrament meeting. Ours was really great, as well. There was a youth speaker who talked about being an example in all things, and the two adult speakers talked about the importance of enduring to the end. Each of them put a huge emphasis on making sure that nothing gets in the way of attending church every week and partaking of the Sacrament. The second adult who spoke was from the High Council and he told us that he was less-active for years and always found an excuse not to come to church, but he eventually came to realize what bad decisions he was making by neglecting to come to church. The part that stunk was that there were no less-active members at church that week. It always seems to work that way. The people who would benefit from a certain message the most are the ones that don't hear it. Oh well. That picture of all those missionaries in the 5K were in my last area, so I would have been able to do it if I was still there, and there are a lot of other runs in the mission, but none that are close by me. I want to do the tough mudder, buuuutttt, I don't think that that would be allowed. (?) Things have been going pretty well here. There weather has been pretty nice, we have had a good number of lessons, and we might be able to set a baptismal date or two this week if things go well, so I'm excited to see if that will happen. We also have interviews with president this week, so that will be good. How's the weather at home? Is there still any snow? Have Corbin's parents told you who he is doing? I haven't heard back from him since he got out to Japan. Anyway, love ya. I hope you have a great week.
Love,
Elder A. Whaley
Poor Piggy
3-10-14
We have not been able to meet with that family yet, but we are just going to stop by this evening and see if we can catch them at home and see what's going on. As far as I know, Elder Fisher is planning on coming back out. He said that it's going to be a 6 week recovery because they found 2 tears in his meniscus instead of just one. He doesn't know how he hurt it. He had surgery on it before he came out from wrestling, but it just tore again. So now he just needs to be more careful on it. He was out for 14 months when he went home. So he would be out for 10 more when he gets back. Sorry I haven't answered your questions, I just forget to bring the letter with me to the library so I can look at it and answer your questions. I usually get your letters by Friday or Saturday. I'll try and make a note of the things I need to respond to in my email to you so I don't forget.
This week I got to help kill some pigs for the ward's annual pig roast. That was pretty crazy. I have some pictures and even a few little videos of it, but I'm guessing that you don't want those. I couldn't believe how much blood came out of that thing when one of the members cut open its throat. It was like a cherry gusher with every heart beat. When the guy tried to shoot it in the head, the gun kept jamming and it eventually went off, but the whole time I was just thinking, "poor pig, doesn't have a clue that it is going to die any second". It was eating its dinner when he shot it. But in the middle of dealing with the pigs, the sister missionaries called us because they got in a wreck and they wanted us to come and give one of them a blessing. Apparently, they blew through a stop sign and got hit on the left back side of the car. Both of the cars were classified as "totaled" even though there wasn't a crazy amount of damage done, and everyone was fine. The sister who asked for the blessing was just really stressed about the whole thing, so Elder Lawless did the anointing and I gave the blessing. It was another great experience! It was a pretty great day! I hope that you are all doing great, and I will talk to you next week. Love ya!
Love,
Elder A. Whaley
We have not been able to meet with that family yet, but we are just going to stop by this evening and see if we can catch them at home and see what's going on. As far as I know, Elder Fisher is planning on coming back out. He said that it's going to be a 6 week recovery because they found 2 tears in his meniscus instead of just one. He doesn't know how he hurt it. He had surgery on it before he came out from wrestling, but it just tore again. So now he just needs to be more careful on it. He was out for 14 months when he went home. So he would be out for 10 more when he gets back. Sorry I haven't answered your questions, I just forget to bring the letter with me to the library so I can look at it and answer your questions. I usually get your letters by Friday or Saturday. I'll try and make a note of the things I need to respond to in my email to you so I don't forget.
This week I got to help kill some pigs for the ward's annual pig roast. That was pretty crazy. I have some pictures and even a few little videos of it, but I'm guessing that you don't want those. I couldn't believe how much blood came out of that thing when one of the members cut open its throat. It was like a cherry gusher with every heart beat. When the guy tried to shoot it in the head, the gun kept jamming and it eventually went off, but the whole time I was just thinking, "poor pig, doesn't have a clue that it is going to die any second". It was eating its dinner when he shot it. But in the middle of dealing with the pigs, the sister missionaries called us because they got in a wreck and they wanted us to come and give one of them a blessing. Apparently, they blew through a stop sign and got hit on the left back side of the car. Both of the cars were classified as "totaled" even though there wasn't a crazy amount of damage done, and everyone was fine. The sister who asked for the blessing was just really stressed about the whole thing, so Elder Lawless did the anointing and I gave the blessing. It was another great experience! It was a pretty great day! I hope that you are all doing great, and I will talk to you next week. Love ya!
Love,
Elder A. Whaley
Pressing Forward
3-2-14
You asked about that inactive family-well, we are actually going to have a lesson with that family this evening after p-day. They didn't make it to church yesterday, but they are ready to do what they need to in order to have Christ more in their life and get back to church. This last week wasn't as eventful, though. We still saw quite a few people, but nothing too notable. So many people in this area are willing to meet with us, and if they cancel, they usually will set up a return appointment with us. It seems like the less-active members are more willing to help us out than the active members are. We are starting to get a few people and families working on coming back to church and getting involved. I think with a little more time, we will be able to gain the trust of a lot more members and less-active members and things will really begin to pick up. We just had transfer calls and Elder Hargan will be on a plane ride home to Washington Wednesday. Elder Lawless and I will be staying together. I am trying to keep in contact with Elder Fisher to see how he is doing on his recovery, but I haven't heard back from him yet. Hopefully, everything went well and he is preparing to come back out. You had asked about taking pictures with the iPad, but we aren't suppose to use our iPads for taking personal pictures and sending them on emails. I don't want to send my SD card because I have heard of a lot of people doing that and it either gets lost or the card gets erased somehow going through the mail. So, I'm not going to chance that. Sorry.
Our ward is doing a Book of Mormon reading challenge, and the goal is to read it in 90 days. I started my own personal reading a few weeks ago and I am in 2 Nephi, and I am learning so much more as I continue to go through it. It's great! How have your studies been coming along? Well, I am a little tired right now, and I can't really focus on what I want to say, but things are going good here and I get to kill and butcher a pig this Friday for a pig roast, so that will be fun. Love ya!
Love,
Elder A. Whaley
You asked about that inactive family-well, we are actually going to have a lesson with that family this evening after p-day. They didn't make it to church yesterday, but they are ready to do what they need to in order to have Christ more in their life and get back to church. This last week wasn't as eventful, though. We still saw quite a few people, but nothing too notable. So many people in this area are willing to meet with us, and if they cancel, they usually will set up a return appointment with us. It seems like the less-active members are more willing to help us out than the active members are. We are starting to get a few people and families working on coming back to church and getting involved. I think with a little more time, we will be able to gain the trust of a lot more members and less-active members and things will really begin to pick up. We just had transfer calls and Elder Hargan will be on a plane ride home to Washington Wednesday. Elder Lawless and I will be staying together. I am trying to keep in contact with Elder Fisher to see how he is doing on his recovery, but I haven't heard back from him yet. Hopefully, everything went well and he is preparing to come back out. You had asked about taking pictures with the iPad, but we aren't suppose to use our iPads for taking personal pictures and sending them on emails. I don't want to send my SD card because I have heard of a lot of people doing that and it either gets lost or the card gets erased somehow going through the mail. So, I'm not going to chance that. Sorry.
Our ward is doing a Book of Mormon reading challenge, and the goal is to read it in 90 days. I started my own personal reading a few weeks ago and I am in 2 Nephi, and I am learning so much more as I continue to go through it. It's great! How have your studies been coming along? Well, I am a little tired right now, and I can't really focus on what I want to say, but things are going good here and I get to kill and butcher a pig this Friday for a pig roast, so that will be fun. Love ya!
Love,
Elder A. Whaley
Saturday, March 1, 2014
A Miracle
2-24-14
What?! Elder Oaks is coming to your Stake Conference? Luckies!!!!! This has definitely been one of those weeks. I don't know how, but we were so blessed this week. We taught more lessons this week than I have taught in any week of my mission. We just went out and worked, worked, worked, and we got to teach a lot of lessons. We didn't really know where to go, we just picked some people and tried to go see them, and a lot of it went really great. I have been pretty tired this week, but it has been really great! The thing that I really loved this week, though, was our miracle that happened. We decided to go try a less active member that was on our roster that I had never met before, and when we got there, we just started talking to her to see how she was doing. She told us that she was at a low in her life right now and that she has been struggling with drug addiction and family problems. Elder Lawless basically told her that the three most important things that she could be doing right now was to read her scriptures, pray, and go to church. She started crying and saying, "I know that's what I need to do." So, we invited her to meet with the bishop that night and she showed up. They had a great conversation and they got help for her. Since it was mutual that night, we showed her two kids what groups they could join, so we introduced them to some of the members and got them involved in the activities. They all loved it, and by that time, they were all excited to come to church Sunday. On Sunday, they not only came, but they managed to get one of their neighbors and her kids to come along with them. We are going to start teaching their family all of the lessons and getting back on track and fully active. The whole thing was just awesome! My companions are great! I love you, and I hope that you have an awesome week!
Love,
Elder A. Whaley
What?! Elder Oaks is coming to your Stake Conference? Luckies!!!!! This has definitely been one of those weeks. I don't know how, but we were so blessed this week. We taught more lessons this week than I have taught in any week of my mission. We just went out and worked, worked, worked, and we got to teach a lot of lessons. We didn't really know where to go, we just picked some people and tried to go see them, and a lot of it went really great. I have been pretty tired this week, but it has been really great! The thing that I really loved this week, though, was our miracle that happened. We decided to go try a less active member that was on our roster that I had never met before, and when we got there, we just started talking to her to see how she was doing. She told us that she was at a low in her life right now and that she has been struggling with drug addiction and family problems. Elder Lawless basically told her that the three most important things that she could be doing right now was to read her scriptures, pray, and go to church. She started crying and saying, "I know that's what I need to do." So, we invited her to meet with the bishop that night and she showed up. They had a great conversation and they got help for her. Since it was mutual that night, we showed her two kids what groups they could join, so we introduced them to some of the members and got them involved in the activities. They all loved it, and by that time, they were all excited to come to church Sunday. On Sunday, they not only came, but they managed to get one of their neighbors and her kids to come along with them. We are going to start teaching their family all of the lessons and getting back on track and fully active. The whole thing was just awesome! My companions are great! I love you, and I hope that you have an awesome week!
Love,
Elder A. Whaley
Stressful Week!
2-16-14
This week started out really well, but turned into a really rough week. It sounds like you're all going some rough times and I will continue to pray for you, just keep pushing through. That's the point that I'm at right now. President Cusick called Elder Fisher this Friday and told him that he needed to be in Tampa the next morning to catch a plane ride home for surgery on his knee this upcoming Tuesday. So, that leaves me in charge of the area and I still don't know it very well at all. I got two new companions, Elder Lawless and Elder Hargan. Elder Hargan goes home in two weeks and Elder Lawless has been out for 18 months. They are great missionaries, but I miss Elder Fisher. He was so much fun. Hopefully, he recovers quickly and is back out in a month or so. These past few days have been extremely stressful for me since I don't know what to do. We are just working with what I know and trying to figure out the area. Now I have to know the area and people a whole lot faster since I am taking it over. So, hopefully, this week will go well and I can manage the area. I have been doing a lot of praying, fasting, and working. I pray for you and the rest of the family daily. Thank you for your support and love and all you do to help me out! I am very grateful for all the sacrifices you make for me and I love you! Have an awesome week!
Love,
Elder A. Whaley
*We got iPads this week and I am emailing with it right now. Unfortunately, you can't download pictures from the camera on an iPad, so I won't be able to send you more through dropbox. I'll just have to print them out and send to you. Sorry.
This week started out really well, but turned into a really rough week. It sounds like you're all going some rough times and I will continue to pray for you, just keep pushing through. That's the point that I'm at right now. President Cusick called Elder Fisher this Friday and told him that he needed to be in Tampa the next morning to catch a plane ride home for surgery on his knee this upcoming Tuesday. So, that leaves me in charge of the area and I still don't know it very well at all. I got two new companions, Elder Lawless and Elder Hargan. Elder Hargan goes home in two weeks and Elder Lawless has been out for 18 months. They are great missionaries, but I miss Elder Fisher. He was so much fun. Hopefully, he recovers quickly and is back out in a month or so. These past few days have been extremely stressful for me since I don't know what to do. We are just working with what I know and trying to figure out the area. Now I have to know the area and people a whole lot faster since I am taking it over. So, hopefully, this week will go well and I can manage the area. I have been doing a lot of praying, fasting, and working. I pray for you and the rest of the family daily. Thank you for your support and love and all you do to help me out! I am very grateful for all the sacrifices you make for me and I love you! Have an awesome week!
Love,
Elder A. Whaley
*We got iPads this week and I am emailing with it right now. Unfortunately, you can't download pictures from the camera on an iPad, so I won't be able to send you more through dropbox. I'll just have to print them out and send to you. Sorry.
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