6-23-14
It's weird to think that I'm at a year already! It's all felt slow, but fast, as well. At times I feel like I've learned so much, and then at other times I feel like I don't know hardly enough. We get all of the Ensigns on our iPads through the gospel library app., so don't worry about sending me one. I haven't had any really different or exciting experiences for the last week or so. The baptism date that we had set for the 28th is postponed for now because the family had to take care of some personal issues, but I think that we are going to continue working with them this next week and set a new date for them. We have quite a few people that we are teaching, but not all of them are progressing. We have about five that are actually keeping commitments and are working towards baptism in the future. We have transfer calls coming up on July 5th and I don't know if I will stay or go or if Elder Lawless will stay or go either. He has one more transfer left till he is done, so we will see what happens.
It sound like that was a pretty good talk that Logan Jacobsen gave at his homecoming. When we had our Zone Conference with Elder Clarke, Sister Cusick talked a lot about the language of prayer and how we can show greater respect for Heavenly Father as we offer our prayers. She gave us a few points.
1- Always use the correct words such as: thee, thou, thy, and thine.
2- Don't say Heavenly Father's name multiple times during a prayer. It's only needed at the
beginning. Nowhere else.
3- When praying in a group, make sure to say "we" and not "I".
4- When you close your prayer in the name of Jesus Christ, do it slowly.
I have been implementing these things in my prayers and it has helped make them more meaningful and not so repetitious. Something else that she challenged us to do is to have a prayer of gratitude where we only pray to thank Heavenly Father for the things we have received. I usually try to do this every Sunday and it helps, as well. That sounds like a really good book that you got. How has your reading in the scriptures been going for yourself and for the family? I hope that you are all still doing family prayer and scripture study.
It's good to hear that Dad is slowly getting better, and I hope that they're able to find some insights as to what's going on with him.
Thank you for all that you do and for letting me know how things are going at home. Sorry, I don't have any inspiring stories at the moment, but I will let you know as they come. Thank you for the year mark wish and I will be praying for all of you. Have a great week!
Love,
Elder A. Whaley
Friday, June 27, 2014
Plugging along!
6-16-14
Haha-ya, we have a tiwi in our car. (I had told him about the Sister missionaries coming to visit us and they had to leave quickly because they have a tiwi in their car that tells what time they get in and if they're speeding, etc.). Our mission was one of the first ones to pilot it when they first came out. They are annoying, but ours is broken right now, so it won't bust us for things like that. (Getting in a little late) That's too bad that Dad didn't get to go on trek with the girls, but I guess it was the smart thing to do considering the state he is in. At least both of you still got to do your own camping for a few days at the cabin and get away!
I wasn't the only one that got to visit with Elder Clarke. He just picked like 3 or 4 of us from the crowd and had us meet with him. It was great, though. That was definitely the highlight of this week, though, so I don't have any other interesting stories for the week. Sorry. Thank you for being such a great mother and supporting me and sending me things! LOVE YOU!
Love,
Elder A. Whaley
Haha-ya, we have a tiwi in our car. (I had told him about the Sister missionaries coming to visit us and they had to leave quickly because they have a tiwi in their car that tells what time they get in and if they're speeding, etc.). Our mission was one of the first ones to pilot it when they first came out. They are annoying, but ours is broken right now, so it won't bust us for things like that. (Getting in a little late) That's too bad that Dad didn't get to go on trek with the girls, but I guess it was the smart thing to do considering the state he is in. At least both of you still got to do your own camping for a few days at the cabin and get away!
I wasn't the only one that got to visit with Elder Clarke. He just picked like 3 or 4 of us from the crowd and had us meet with him. It was great, though. That was definitely the highlight of this week, though, so I don't have any other interesting stories for the week. Sorry. Thank you for being such a great mother and supporting me and sending me things! LOVE YOU!
Love,
Elder A. Whaley
Sunday, June 15, 2014
Personal Visit with a General Authority-Great Birthday Present!
6-9-14
Thank you so much for the birthday package! It was great! I did take pictures, so I'll have to get them to you! We didn't do much of a party with the things that you guys sent to me, but it was still a great day! I did get two letters from Grandma and Grandpa, which was really nice of them! We had 7 investigators show up to church and we actually set a baptismal date for one of them this week on the 28th of this month. It is a family of 4 and they absolutely love everything about the church. They are all excited about baptism and the dad is already asking about getting the priesthood. After church, later that evening, we went over to one of the member's homes to do a family home evening with the family who has a baptismal date, and we played a Bible/Gospel trivia game. Everyone got really into it and they enjoyed it! It was a great day!
This week was also exhausting, too. We went on two exchanges in a row. I stayed in the area for the first one and we had 6 lessons that day. That was also the day that we set the baptismal date for the family. The next day, right after district meeting, we went on the second exchange and I went with one of our Zone leaders to their area and it was kind of a slow day, but we actually did some tracting for an hour or so. That was fun to do again. That night, one of their investigators took us out to Chili's and he let us order whatever we wanted. I got some shrimp tacos. We taught him the Plan of Salvation with a puzzle that I have and he loved it.
Yesterday, we had a big Zone Conference that lasted 6 hours and there was a General Authority, Elder Clarke, who gave most of the training. He is actually from Rexburg, Idaho, so when we all got to shake his hand and introduce ourselves, I told him that I was from Sugar City. He said, "Me too. Don't you dare misrepresent Idaho! Don't do it!" It was funny. I told him that I wouldn't. His wife is from Twin Falls. President and Sister Cusick gave talks as well as Sister Clarke. Elder Clarke did about 3 hours of the training, and it was hilarious! He is such a funny guy. He talked about so many good things and now I have a list of things that I am going to try and do better on in the work. Towards the very end of the meeting, right before we were going to start the hymn, President Cusick came down to me and told me to stay after the meeting because Elder Clarke wanted to visit with me. That was all he said, and he was very serious when he said it. I was so scared and nervous because he didn't tell me why he wanted to meet with me. When we finished and got out in the hall, President waved me over to him and pointed me to the room where Elder Clarke was waiting. He still didn't tell me why I was meeting with him and I was pretty much shaking at this point. When I got int he room Elder Clarke asked me to start our visit with a prayer and I could barely think about what to say. Once we started talking, I was super relieved because he just was asking me about my mission, how I like it, what I felt was the hardest thing about it, and what I learned in the Zone Conference that day. Then he asked me about my family and about all of you individually and what Dad did for work and stuff. Then, we just started talking about Rexburg and he was wondering if I knew certain people there. Apparently, Lexi Belnap is his granddaughter and he is also related to the Larsen family. After a few minutes, he asked if I had any questions for him and I couldn't think of any right then. So I just asked him about where he grew up in Rexburg, but I couldn't think about anything else. I was frustrated because after I left, I had a bunch of questions that I wanted to ask him. Who knows, maybe I will get to see him again. It was really cool. He is now my favorite General Authority.
I hope that you have a great week. How is your health doing, Dad? Love you!
Love,
Elder A. Whaley
Thank you so much for the birthday package! It was great! I did take pictures, so I'll have to get them to you! We didn't do much of a party with the things that you guys sent to me, but it was still a great day! I did get two letters from Grandma and Grandpa, which was really nice of them! We had 7 investigators show up to church and we actually set a baptismal date for one of them this week on the 28th of this month. It is a family of 4 and they absolutely love everything about the church. They are all excited about baptism and the dad is already asking about getting the priesthood. After church, later that evening, we went over to one of the member's homes to do a family home evening with the family who has a baptismal date, and we played a Bible/Gospel trivia game. Everyone got really into it and they enjoyed it! It was a great day!
This week was also exhausting, too. We went on two exchanges in a row. I stayed in the area for the first one and we had 6 lessons that day. That was also the day that we set the baptismal date for the family. The next day, right after district meeting, we went on the second exchange and I went with one of our Zone leaders to their area and it was kind of a slow day, but we actually did some tracting for an hour or so. That was fun to do again. That night, one of their investigators took us out to Chili's and he let us order whatever we wanted. I got some shrimp tacos. We taught him the Plan of Salvation with a puzzle that I have and he loved it.
Yesterday, we had a big Zone Conference that lasted 6 hours and there was a General Authority, Elder Clarke, who gave most of the training. He is actually from Rexburg, Idaho, so when we all got to shake his hand and introduce ourselves, I told him that I was from Sugar City. He said, "Me too. Don't you dare misrepresent Idaho! Don't do it!" It was funny. I told him that I wouldn't. His wife is from Twin Falls. President and Sister Cusick gave talks as well as Sister Clarke. Elder Clarke did about 3 hours of the training, and it was hilarious! He is such a funny guy. He talked about so many good things and now I have a list of things that I am going to try and do better on in the work. Towards the very end of the meeting, right before we were going to start the hymn, President Cusick came down to me and told me to stay after the meeting because Elder Clarke wanted to visit with me. That was all he said, and he was very serious when he said it. I was so scared and nervous because he didn't tell me why he wanted to meet with me. When we finished and got out in the hall, President waved me over to him and pointed me to the room where Elder Clarke was waiting. He still didn't tell me why I was meeting with him and I was pretty much shaking at this point. When I got int he room Elder Clarke asked me to start our visit with a prayer and I could barely think about what to say. Once we started talking, I was super relieved because he just was asking me about my mission, how I like it, what I felt was the hardest thing about it, and what I learned in the Zone Conference that day. Then he asked me about my family and about all of you individually and what Dad did for work and stuff. Then, we just started talking about Rexburg and he was wondering if I knew certain people there. Apparently, Lexi Belnap is his granddaughter and he is also related to the Larsen family. After a few minutes, he asked if I had any questions for him and I couldn't think of any right then. So I just asked him about where he grew up in Rexburg, but I couldn't think about anything else. I was frustrated because after I left, I had a bunch of questions that I wanted to ask him. Who knows, maybe I will get to see him again. It was really cool. He is now my favorite General Authority.
I hope that you have a great week. How is your health doing, Dad? Love you!
Love,
Elder A. Whaley
Wednesday, June 4, 2014
Loving the Rain!
6-2-14
Mom, I haven't gotten the birthday package yet, but it might be here in the next day or two. Hopefully, you got your birthday card that I sent you a few days ago. How is Dad doing? There is a guy in our ward that we have been visiting and in the past two months he has gone from having no feeling in his legs and no movement with them, to being able to extend and move them and now he has not pain in them. The only thing that he has done is swim in his pool everyday and see a chiropractor. So, help Dad just be healthier if you can.
This last week was pretty slow, but we still reached our goal of 20 lessons. It rained pretty hard everyday this week and it was great! I love the rain! We are now officially in hurricane season so it's going to be raining a lot more. Nothing really exciting happened this last week, but this week is going to be crazy. We are going to be doing two exchanges. One with someone in our district and then another one the next day with our zone leaders. I've never really liked exchanges, but I guess they are good learning experiences. I hope that Dad gets better soon, and I hope that you enjoy being out of school. I love you!
Love,
Elder A. Whaley
Mom, I haven't gotten the birthday package yet, but it might be here in the next day or two. Hopefully, you got your birthday card that I sent you a few days ago. How is Dad doing? There is a guy in our ward that we have been visiting and in the past two months he has gone from having no feeling in his legs and no movement with them, to being able to extend and move them and now he has not pain in them. The only thing that he has done is swim in his pool everyday and see a chiropractor. So, help Dad just be healthier if you can.
This last week was pretty slow, but we still reached our goal of 20 lessons. It rained pretty hard everyday this week and it was great! I love the rain! We are now officially in hurricane season so it's going to be raining a lot more. Nothing really exciting happened this last week, but this week is going to be crazy. We are going to be doing two exchanges. One with someone in our district and then another one the next day with our zone leaders. I've never really liked exchanges, but I guess they are good learning experiences. I hope that Dad gets better soon, and I hope that you enjoy being out of school. I love you!
Love,
Elder A. Whaley
11 Months Out!
5-26-14
This week has been pretty good. We just had transfer calls Saturday and I will be staying here with Elder Lawless. Yay! I'm glad. That way I don't have to have my birthday in a brand new area. This last week has been pretty exhausting because we went on 3 splits and we had a lot of lessons, which was great! There was also a baptism this weekend that the sisters in the ward had and we helped out with that. We also got to be in the confirmation circle on Sunday. We had two investigators show up to church and it was a little strange at first. They had all of the seminary students that were graduating speak and they were suppose to each give 3 minute talks, but they were all about 4 seconds long. The last person that spoke, though was great. He is about to put in his papers for a mission and he did a really good job. He talked about his seminary experience and bore his testimony of his favorite scripture Helaman 5:12. I was kind of scared that bishop was going to have Elder Lawless and I fill in the last 15 minutes of the meeting, but he had the seminary teacher do it and he talked about how we are able to receive personal revelation. It was really good.
For the past week, we have been eating some pretty boring food because we ran through our funds this month pretty quickly. Luckily a member gave us a big box of food yesterday, so that should last us till the beginning of this next month.
Also, lately we have had the opportunity to give members and others blessings a lot. Almost on a daily basis. The oil vial that you guys gave me was starting to leak because the rubber seal was breaking. A member gave me one of his, so that was nice. A lot of great things have been happening.
Something else that happened that was funny and kind of stunk at the same time is that while we were in our apartment last night, we were throwing around a frisbee and trying a bunch of trick throws and Elder Lawless threw the frisbee into one of the light fixtures and shattered it all over the place. It was pretty funny, but now we have to go replace it. Haha.
I can believe that I have been out that long, but it feels weird. It feels like I'm just stuck in the middle, like I've been out for a while and I still have a long time left, but it also feels like it's not that much longer. It's weird. I'm sure that it will start flying by once I pass my year mark.
I love this area and I love the things that I am learning.
I hope that you have a good week and I'll talk to you later. Love you, bye!
Love,
Elder A. Whaley
This week has been pretty good. We just had transfer calls Saturday and I will be staying here with Elder Lawless. Yay! I'm glad. That way I don't have to have my birthday in a brand new area. This last week has been pretty exhausting because we went on 3 splits and we had a lot of lessons, which was great! There was also a baptism this weekend that the sisters in the ward had and we helped out with that. We also got to be in the confirmation circle on Sunday. We had two investigators show up to church and it was a little strange at first. They had all of the seminary students that were graduating speak and they were suppose to each give 3 minute talks, but they were all about 4 seconds long. The last person that spoke, though was great. He is about to put in his papers for a mission and he did a really good job. He talked about his seminary experience and bore his testimony of his favorite scripture Helaman 5:12. I was kind of scared that bishop was going to have Elder Lawless and I fill in the last 15 minutes of the meeting, but he had the seminary teacher do it and he talked about how we are able to receive personal revelation. It was really good.
For the past week, we have been eating some pretty boring food because we ran through our funds this month pretty quickly. Luckily a member gave us a big box of food yesterday, so that should last us till the beginning of this next month.
Also, lately we have had the opportunity to give members and others blessings a lot. Almost on a daily basis. The oil vial that you guys gave me was starting to leak because the rubber seal was breaking. A member gave me one of his, so that was nice. A lot of great things have been happening.
Something else that happened that was funny and kind of stunk at the same time is that while we were in our apartment last night, we were throwing around a frisbee and trying a bunch of trick throws and Elder Lawless threw the frisbee into one of the light fixtures and shattered it all over the place. It was pretty funny, but now we have to go replace it. Haha.
I can believe that I have been out that long, but it feels weird. It feels like I'm just stuck in the middle, like I've been out for a while and I still have a long time left, but it also feels like it's not that much longer. It's weird. I'm sure that it will start flying by once I pass my year mark.
I love this area and I love the things that I am learning.
I hope that you have a good week and I'll talk to you later. Love you, bye!
Love,
Elder A. Whaley
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