4-21-14
I got the Easter package-thank you so much for that!! We ate through the candy pretty quick and I really enjoyed those "Last Days of Christ" papers. Those were neat! It was a fun Easter Sunday out here! The message that we shared with people this week was the church's Easter video that they put out, "Because of Him". You have probably seen it multiple times because it is all over the church's websites and they even bought out the youtube banner so that it would be on the home page and a lot more people could watch it. It was awesome to just talk about the Savior and His atonement this entire week and study it a little more thoroughly. This Easter Sunday was great, too. Everyone was super happy and nice at church. We had a few investigators show up, and they really enjoyed it. We went to a member's home for lunch and dinner, and at our dinner appointment, they had a 3 year old son, and we helped them set up an Easter egg hunt for him. When they let him start hunting for the eggs, he was screaming the entire time, especially whenever he would find an egg. He is such a hyper kid. I wish I would have caught it on my camera. He just screams when he gets excited. It was so funny. That was the highlight for the week. It sounds like you all had a nice Easter, even though the week was a little rough.
Dad, I have heard of that "Everyday Missionaries" book a lot. Everyone says that it is really good, but I don't think a lot of the members know about it here. Tonight we are going to be going to our ward mission leader's home with another family for family home evening, and we are doing a short lesson on how they can do member missionary work. We are going to talk a lot about Elder Ballard's talk in this last conference and how they can use Preach My Gospel to learn how to become member-missionaries. Hopefully, it all goes well. That is awesome that you are studying up on how you can invite others to hear the Gospel. I still feel apprehensive about approaching someone to learn about the gospel, but once you get past the first few seconds, it's easy because either they just say no and walk away, or they say sure and you just start going into your message. The key is to just grab their attention really quick and to ask them some question that really gets them thinking, in which you can provide a few quick answers.
Let me know if my letter ever got to you because I think that after I sent it off, I might have messed up the address, so it may not have gotten to you. I'm sorry if it didn't! Love ya!
Love,
Elder A. Whaley
Sunday, May 4, 2014
Sunday, April 20, 2014
Companion Becoming a Woman! Haha!
4-14-14
Dad, that is an awesome story. It is definitely scary to think about how to approach someone and offer them something from the church, but that is something that just comes with practice, which I'm sure you know from your mission. That is really great that you handed the Book of Mormon to that lady. I can understand why the sisters weren't as excited when you told them that it was out of their area. That usually seems to happen a lot. We find a lot of people that are interested in learning, but they always end up being out of our boundaries. But, I've never cared so much, because as long as someone teaches them, then I'm happy with that. Now, you'll just have to follow up with her and ask her how her daughter like having her own copy next time you see her. This last Wednesday I started reading in the Book of Mormon from the beginning and I am going to read the whole thing once through because I've done it before, but not since I've been out on my mission. I've read large pieces of it here and there, but not front to back. I am going to try and finish it in 25 days. Right now I am at the end of 2 Nephi. How are your studies going? Are you getting a lot from them?
This week was a little slower for us, but we still had a lot of really great lessons. Our ward is getting more involved in missionary work and things are slowly starting to click more. The one thing that happened last week that I wanted to tell you has to do with working out. After emails last week, Elder Lawless wanted to go to a nutrition shop by our house to see if they had any good protein shakes that he could get. So, we went in and Elder Lawless talked to the guy working there and told him that he wanted a protein shake that would help him bulk up. The guy asked him what he had been taking and Elder Lawless pointed to a bottle that they had on one of the bottom shelves and told him that it was "that one". The worker started laughing and said, "You know that stuff is for women right?" Apparently, the protein Elder Lawless was taking was soy based and it was meant to boost estrogen levels. Haha! So, all he has been doing for the past month is becoming a woman! Hahaha! He was super upset when he found that out. But after that, the guy showed him another good shake and he ended up buying that. The whole thing was super funny! I still tease him about his estrogen shake. Well, I hope that everything goes well this week for you and thank you for the letters you send me! I really appreciate those! Love ya!
Love,
Elder A. Whaley
Dad, that is an awesome story. It is definitely scary to think about how to approach someone and offer them something from the church, but that is something that just comes with practice, which I'm sure you know from your mission. That is really great that you handed the Book of Mormon to that lady. I can understand why the sisters weren't as excited when you told them that it was out of their area. That usually seems to happen a lot. We find a lot of people that are interested in learning, but they always end up being out of our boundaries. But, I've never cared so much, because as long as someone teaches them, then I'm happy with that. Now, you'll just have to follow up with her and ask her how her daughter like having her own copy next time you see her. This last Wednesday I started reading in the Book of Mormon from the beginning and I am going to read the whole thing once through because I've done it before, but not since I've been out on my mission. I've read large pieces of it here and there, but not front to back. I am going to try and finish it in 25 days. Right now I am at the end of 2 Nephi. How are your studies going? Are you getting a lot from them?
This week was a little slower for us, but we still had a lot of really great lessons. Our ward is getting more involved in missionary work and things are slowly starting to click more. The one thing that happened last week that I wanted to tell you has to do with working out. After emails last week, Elder Lawless wanted to go to a nutrition shop by our house to see if they had any good protein shakes that he could get. So, we went in and Elder Lawless talked to the guy working there and told him that he wanted a protein shake that would help him bulk up. The guy asked him what he had been taking and Elder Lawless pointed to a bottle that they had on one of the bottom shelves and told him that it was "that one". The worker started laughing and said, "You know that stuff is for women right?" Apparently, the protein Elder Lawless was taking was soy based and it was meant to boost estrogen levels. Haha! So, all he has been doing for the past month is becoming a woman! Hahaha! He was super upset when he found that out. But after that, the guy showed him another good shake and he ended up buying that. The whole thing was super funny! I still tease him about his estrogen shake. Well, I hope that everything goes well this week for you and thank you for the letters you send me! I really appreciate those! Love ya!
Love,
Elder A. Whaley
Loved General Conference
4-7-14
You asked about going to the Ft. Lauderdale open house. No, we don't get to go because it is just barely outside the boundaries of our mission. I did get to watch all of General Conference, and I loved it! It seemed too short to me, though. I wish it would last the entire week. :)
This was another great week of work. We didn't get as much done as we did last week, but it was still good. We invited everyone we talked to and taught to watch General Conference, so hopefully they did. One of our investigators, Don, came for the last session of General Conference, and he said that he thought it was very interesting. He says that about everything. But, I thought that all of the talks were great for him to hear, because they all focused on the basics and foundation of the Gospel and the things that we have taught him. So, hopefully, it had a good influence on him. I also like Elder M. Russell Ballard's talk and how he invited every member to get a copy of Preach My Gospel and to make it a part of their studies. I'm excited for you all to take on the challenge that the sister missionaries gave you. Having members with us as missionaries is so powerful and important in lessons and fellowshipping those we teach. It's a great opportunity to be involved in the work. I honestly don't know how that referral was made, because I didn't do it. I guess it was just suppose to happen so that you all now have the opportunity and challenge to hand out the Book of Mormon and share the Gospel with someone. I'll be praying for you all to find someone to share it with, so be attentive, and take the opportunity when it arises. I will be waiting to hear what you guys have found in the future. I will continue to pray for you guys, and thank you for your support and prayers, as well. I love you and I hope that this week goes well for you!
Love,
Elder A. Whaley
You asked about going to the Ft. Lauderdale open house. No, we don't get to go because it is just barely outside the boundaries of our mission. I did get to watch all of General Conference, and I loved it! It seemed too short to me, though. I wish it would last the entire week. :)
This was another great week of work. We didn't get as much done as we did last week, but it was still good. We invited everyone we talked to and taught to watch General Conference, so hopefully they did. One of our investigators, Don, came for the last session of General Conference, and he said that he thought it was very interesting. He says that about everything. But, I thought that all of the talks were great for him to hear, because they all focused on the basics and foundation of the Gospel and the things that we have taught him. So, hopefully, it had a good influence on him. I also like Elder M. Russell Ballard's talk and how he invited every member to get a copy of Preach My Gospel and to make it a part of their studies. I'm excited for you all to take on the challenge that the sister missionaries gave you. Having members with us as missionaries is so powerful and important in lessons and fellowshipping those we teach. It's a great opportunity to be involved in the work. I honestly don't know how that referral was made, because I didn't do it. I guess it was just suppose to happen so that you all now have the opportunity and challenge to hand out the Book of Mormon and share the Gospel with someone. I'll be praying for you all to find someone to share it with, so be attentive, and take the opportunity when it arises. I will be waiting to hear what you guys have found in the future. I will continue to pray for you guys, and thank you for your support and prayers, as well. I love you and I hope that this week goes well for you!
Love,
Elder A. Whaley
Sunday, April 6, 2014
Loving his area!!!!
3-31-14
Luckies!!!! I want snow!!!!!! Appreciate it while it is there. Yep, I served around Sister Partridge for about 3 or so months, I think. She is awesome! Hopefully, things go well for her at home and she can get back out here soon. (This is a Sister that went home with some heart problems) So it sounds like you had a good meeting yesterday. We deal with people asking us about the church's stance on Gays a lot! We just tell them that we believe that marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God, and that we are to follow the commandments of God. We aren't against those who are pro-gay, but just like another sin like breaking the law of chastity, we believe that everyone has the free agency to choose for themselves between right and wrong. Those that claim to have no control over their sexual orientation, and were born that way, is not true. It is a temptation or trial that is given to them in life, and just like any other temptation, they are to put off the natural man and choose right. Usually people who ask us about this question just want to cause problems and argue, so they just try and anti whatever we tell them, so we usually just leave it at that.
You asked me if I need anything. The only thing I'd like right now is the Insanity workout program. Other than that, I can't really think of anything I need. I just barely bought a hard drive so that I could get talks and songs from all of my companions, since they all have some really good ones that I want. I can't wait for General Conference! It seems like it just barely happened, and now it's here again! It's weird to think that I was in Salt Lake with Keegan and Taylor and Cody for last April's Conference. It's nice to just take two whole days and listen to the Prophet, Apostles, and Church Leaders. I learn so much from it. The work in our area has been awesome! I can't remember if I said this before, but our ward is doing a Book of Mormon reading challenge and a fast to go with it, and all of the members are doing it, and there have been some crazy results. We have great people that we are working with. The members are getting involved in the work, and the work itself is hastening! The Work has been picking up and we are finding more people to teach. Those that we visit with, who have been following along with the challenge, have been seeing tons of blessings in their lives and they are just happier. It's great! I LOVE this area! I get to sleep on a nice queen mattress, we have full car, and I love serving with Elder Lawless. He and I have a lot of fun together, and I have learned a lot from him as well! I hope that your week goes well and I will talk to you later! Love ya!
Love,
Elder A. Whaley
Luckies!!!! I want snow!!!!!! Appreciate it while it is there. Yep, I served around Sister Partridge for about 3 or so months, I think. She is awesome! Hopefully, things go well for her at home and she can get back out here soon. (This is a Sister that went home with some heart problems) So it sounds like you had a good meeting yesterday. We deal with people asking us about the church's stance on Gays a lot! We just tell them that we believe that marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God, and that we are to follow the commandments of God. We aren't against those who are pro-gay, but just like another sin like breaking the law of chastity, we believe that everyone has the free agency to choose for themselves between right and wrong. Those that claim to have no control over their sexual orientation, and were born that way, is not true. It is a temptation or trial that is given to them in life, and just like any other temptation, they are to put off the natural man and choose right. Usually people who ask us about this question just want to cause problems and argue, so they just try and anti whatever we tell them, so we usually just leave it at that.
You asked me if I need anything. The only thing I'd like right now is the Insanity workout program. Other than that, I can't really think of anything I need. I just barely bought a hard drive so that I could get talks and songs from all of my companions, since they all have some really good ones that I want. I can't wait for General Conference! It seems like it just barely happened, and now it's here again! It's weird to think that I was in Salt Lake with Keegan and Taylor and Cody for last April's Conference. It's nice to just take two whole days and listen to the Prophet, Apostles, and Church Leaders. I learn so much from it. The work in our area has been awesome! I can't remember if I said this before, but our ward is doing a Book of Mormon reading challenge and a fast to go with it, and all of the members are doing it, and there have been some crazy results. We have great people that we are working with. The members are getting involved in the work, and the work itself is hastening! The Work has been picking up and we are finding more people to teach. Those that we visit with, who have been following along with the challenge, have been seeing tons of blessings in their lives and they are just happier. It's great! I LOVE this area! I get to sleep on a nice queen mattress, we have full car, and I love serving with Elder Lawless. He and I have a lot of fun together, and I have learned a lot from him as well! I hope that your week goes well and I will talk to you later! Love ya!
Love,
Elder A. Whaley
Sunday, March 30, 2014
9 Months and Counting!!!!
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
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
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
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