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
Monday, March 17, 2014
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.
Sunday, February 16, 2014
Learning New Skills!
2-10-14
I totally miss the snow! Not the cold, but the snow. This week was a bit more exciting than last week. I got to take a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu class from a less active member where he taught us a bunch of ground fighting techniques. It was all super cool. I can't remember what style of Jiu-Jitsu we use to take, but this was completely different. I remember that we learned a lot of standing self-defense when we took it, but this was all ground stuff. He also had us do a kettle bell workout that was super exhausting. Apparently, he went to Russia and learned a lot of what he knows by having a bunch of professionals basically beat him up so he could see how they fought. He has been doing it since 2009 and he is super good.
Saturday we went to go help build a house for Habitat for Humanity and I learned a lot about construction. The Church was building this particular house and we started at 8a.m. and went till 3:30p.m. for the day. We constructed the walls and put siding on all of it. I have some pictures that I will upload so that you can see. Right after that, we went to a new move-in and helped them cut down a tree. So, I got to learn how to use a chainsaw. It was pretty fun and quick. I have some pictures of that as well.
This week was a whole lot of service and I loved it since I haven't had too many opportunities to give service for others. Everyone usually turns us down because we are dressed too nice and they don't want us to get dirty. I'm still trying to figure out this area and get to know the people, but it's coming along, and I love working with Elder Fisher. He is awesome! I may possibly end up getting a new companion, though, because he has to get knee surgery soon and so he might be heading home to do that and recover, so we'll see what happens. Love you!
Love,
Elder A. Whaley
I totally miss the snow! Not the cold, but the snow. This week was a bit more exciting than last week. I got to take a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu class from a less active member where he taught us a bunch of ground fighting techniques. It was all super cool. I can't remember what style of Jiu-Jitsu we use to take, but this was completely different. I remember that we learned a lot of standing self-defense when we took it, but this was all ground stuff. He also had us do a kettle bell workout that was super exhausting. Apparently, he went to Russia and learned a lot of what he knows by having a bunch of professionals basically beat him up so he could see how they fought. He has been doing it since 2009 and he is super good.
Saturday we went to go help build a house for Habitat for Humanity and I learned a lot about construction. The Church was building this particular house and we started at 8a.m. and went till 3:30p.m. for the day. We constructed the walls and put siding on all of it. I have some pictures that I will upload so that you can see. Right after that, we went to a new move-in and helped them cut down a tree. So, I got to learn how to use a chainsaw. It was pretty fun and quick. I have some pictures of that as well.
This week was a whole lot of service and I loved it since I haven't had too many opportunities to give service for others. Everyone usually turns us down because we are dressed too nice and they don't want us to get dirty. I'm still trying to figure out this area and get to know the people, but it's coming along, and I love working with Elder Fisher. He is awesome! I may possibly end up getting a new companion, though, because he has to get knee surgery soon and so he might be heading home to do that and recover, so we'll see what happens. Love you!
Love,
Elder A. Whaley
Enjoying the area and companion
2-3-14
Things are going good for us here. Elder Fisher is such an awesome companion. I love him and I love the people here. A lot of the members here are older and they are all so nice. There is a lot more diversity to work with here and it makes working with members a lot better. Even a lot of the less active members are nice and let us come over and teach them, unlike my last area. We are just in the process of just figuring the area out and knowing what works and what doesn't. I think that this area has a lot of potential, though. We just need to rely on the Lord to know what to do in order to get it all going. I did get your letter this week, thanks. Thank you for the recipes. We made some breakfast bars for lunch and they turned out great! Elder Fisher calls them monsters because they start out nice, then they blow up into a beast thing. It makes sense to me. I don't really have any exciting stories this week to tell. All we did was go around and try to figure out what we should do since neither of us really know the area. Our ward mission leader is pushing us to reach the standard of excellence that the church has set of 20 lessons a week, and we could have made it this last week, but practically all of our appointments fell through. Hopefully, this week will go a little better. I always have and I always will continue to pray for you guys. Love ya!
Love,
Elder A. Whaley
Things are going good for us here. Elder Fisher is such an awesome companion. I love him and I love the people here. A lot of the members here are older and they are all so nice. There is a lot more diversity to work with here and it makes working with members a lot better. Even a lot of the less active members are nice and let us come over and teach them, unlike my last area. We are just in the process of just figuring the area out and knowing what works and what doesn't. I think that this area has a lot of potential, though. We just need to rely on the Lord to know what to do in order to get it all going. I did get your letter this week, thanks. Thank you for the recipes. We made some breakfast bars for lunch and they turned out great! Elder Fisher calls them monsters because they start out nice, then they blow up into a beast thing. It makes sense to me. I don't really have any exciting stories this week to tell. All we did was go around and try to figure out what we should do since neither of us really know the area. Our ward mission leader is pushing us to reach the standard of excellence that the church has set of 20 lessons a week, and we could have made it this last week, but practically all of our appointments fell through. Hopefully, this week will go a little better. I always have and I always will continue to pray for you guys. Love ya!
Love,
Elder A. Whaley
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