9-8-14
So, this last week was pretty steady for the most part, except for Monday and Tuesday. On Monday evening, we drove up to central Tampa for our Metro training experience. It is something that they do for all of the trainers and trainees to have some experience street contacting. We worked up there for part of Monday and all of Tuesday. We didn't get much done Monday because we had to take shelter at a nearby Presbyterian church for about 2 hours during a severe thunderstorm. After the storm stopped, there was about five or so fire trucks that drove past us to a site where lightning struck and caused some major damage very close to us. Tuesday felt extremely long because we were out from 10a.m.-9p.m. talking to people all day long. We got to go into the downtown area and see all of the massive buildings they have. It was pretty easy to pass out cards to people who were passing by us, but difficult to stop them and talk to them for even a minute or two. Everyone had somewhere to go and something to do it seemed like. It got pretty hot during the early to mid-afternoon, so we planned our route to what the next place could be where we could stop for water. Throughout our day, we met a lot of interesting individuals. Not too many who were interested about the Gospel, but did know a thing or two about the church. Something that was also going on there was the "Book of Mormon" play. So, whenever we would tell anyone who we were, they would just start talking to us about the play. It doesn't sound like a very accurate portrayal of the church or the Book. Oh well. Overall, it was a pretty fun experience. I feel bad for all of my friends who are in missions where all they do is walk all day, everyday. Haha. I'm sure they are us to it, though. I hope you have a great week and I will talk to you later.
Love,
Elder A. Whaley
I heard from Elder Swallow's mom. Here's what she said:
Elder Swallow (Logan) loves Austin! He says Austin is a great trainer and he learns new things everyday from him. He really respects him. He also said Austin is a super smart guy! Logan told us a funny story. He said they were in Tampa tracking and they were super hungry and there wasn't anywhere to eat. They looked at a GPS and saw a McDonalds, but it was two miles in the wrong direction. They were so hungry that they decided to walk to it anyway. When they got there, it was the Ronald McDonald House. Logan said he's pretty sure he cried. But, they walked back to where they came from and 2 hours later, they got food at a store. Logan said they sat down outside to eat and it started to pour down rain on them. He said it was pretty funny!
Austin is truly a blessing to Logan. We are so thankful for him being trained by such an obedient, hard working young man!
Sunday, September 21, 2014
Sunday, September 7, 2014
Triple your Income in Life
9-1-14
That's great that you got to see the Ogden temple. This week started out slow for us and picked up pace by the end of the week. A whole lot of crazy things happened, though. This Wednesday one of our investigators passed away, and that was pretty sad. We went over to give him a blessing in the afternoon and he wasn't doing well at all. Later that evening we were notified that he had passed away. When I gave him the blessing, I didn't feel prompted to say anything about being healed, but just that he would be at peace until it was time for him to go, and I guess that it was pretty soon after that.
The next day we had a lesson with one of our other investigators and we set a tentative date for baptism on October 4th. He said that he would get baptized if he knows the church it true. He is keeping all of the commitments, so I'm sure that it won't be long until he gains a testimony that it is true. This evening we have to head up to Tampa to go do "metro training". We basically are going to spend the next two days walking around downtown Tampa talking to people so that Elder Swallow can get accustomed to street contacting. It should be hot and fun! I'll let you know how it goes next week.
Mom, you had mentioned Preach My Gospel. It has everything that we do as missionaries in it. It has the five lessons that we teach and other chapters to help us fulfill our purpose. Pretty much everything I know how to do as a missionary comes from P.M.G. I would definitely challenge you all to read a section or two every night and see how you can apply it because you all are suppose to be "missionaries" as well. Elder Clarke told us that if we want to triple our income in life, we need to become converts to chapter 8 of P.M.G.
Things are going well for us out here and we are staying busy and working hard. I hope that you all have a great week! Love ya!
Love,
Elder A. Whaley
*A side note: We had the wonderful opportunity to meet Elder Swallow's family while we were in Utah. They are an amazing family and we loved our visit with them. I think our sons will do well together and it was so fun to get to know more about Elder Swallow. We found out that he is 5'6", so almost a foot shorter. They also have a son serving in Germany right now. We had a lot in common with them and look forward to keeping in touch with them!
That's great that you got to see the Ogden temple. This week started out slow for us and picked up pace by the end of the week. A whole lot of crazy things happened, though. This Wednesday one of our investigators passed away, and that was pretty sad. We went over to give him a blessing in the afternoon and he wasn't doing well at all. Later that evening we were notified that he had passed away. When I gave him the blessing, I didn't feel prompted to say anything about being healed, but just that he would be at peace until it was time for him to go, and I guess that it was pretty soon after that.
The next day we had a lesson with one of our other investigators and we set a tentative date for baptism on October 4th. He said that he would get baptized if he knows the church it true. He is keeping all of the commitments, so I'm sure that it won't be long until he gains a testimony that it is true. This evening we have to head up to Tampa to go do "metro training". We basically are going to spend the next two days walking around downtown Tampa talking to people so that Elder Swallow can get accustomed to street contacting. It should be hot and fun! I'll let you know how it goes next week.
Mom, you had mentioned Preach My Gospel. It has everything that we do as missionaries in it. It has the five lessons that we teach and other chapters to help us fulfill our purpose. Pretty much everything I know how to do as a missionary comes from P.M.G. I would definitely challenge you all to read a section or two every night and see how you can apply it because you all are suppose to be "missionaries" as well. Elder Clarke told us that if we want to triple our income in life, we need to become converts to chapter 8 of P.M.G.
Things are going well for us out here and we are staying busy and working hard. I hope that you all have a great week! Love ya!
Love,
Elder A. Whaley
*A side note: We had the wonderful opportunity to meet Elder Swallow's family while we were in Utah. They are an amazing family and we loved our visit with them. I think our sons will do well together and it was so fun to get to know more about Elder Swallow. We found out that he is 5'6", so almost a foot shorter. They also have a son serving in Germany right now. We had a lot in common with them and look forward to keeping in touch with them!
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| The Swallow's and Whaley's |
It's a Boy!
8-25-14
My new companion is doing great! He is a humble elder and he has that greenie fire! Things are going well with training, but I have definitely been stressed out with it all. It's been a little exhausting trying to do everything, but it's getting better day by day as I involve Elder Swallow a little more and more. He is from Clinton, UT. He likes a variety of things, but something that is cool about him is that he speaks German pretty fluently. He took it all throughout high school.
Well, this week was crazy with all of the changes. Elder Lawless left Monday morning up to Tampa and got home Tuesday evening. I stayed with the Venice elders for all of Monday and Tuesday. On Wednesday, they dropped me off in my area where I worked all day with one of the priests in the ward, then I went back to Venice for the night. I went up to Tampa on Thursday morning and picked up Elder Swallow and came back down and worked. We still managed to get in a good number of lessons with all of the time that I was gone for the week. I have felt somewhat lost and unprepared for the past few days, but so far I have been able to manage and keep everything moving. We had a pretty cool experience with street finding this Saturday right by the church. Elder Lawless and I hadn't done it in a while, but I decided to do it so that Elder Swallow could get some practice. We parked the car and we didn't even get out of the parking lot before we stopped someone who was riding through on their bike. We talked to him and set up a church tour for this next week. About one minute later, someone honked at us and flipped a u-turn to stop and talk to us. The lady was a young women's president who told us about one of her young women that had just moved to Port Charlotte. The girl's parents are not members and she wanted us to teach her and possibly her parents. This all happened within a hundred yards of the church. A few hours later, we took the same route of travel and ran into two more people right outside of the church parking lot and set up church tours with them. It was so cool to have all of that happen right off the bat for us. I guess those are some of the blessings of training! I hope that this week will go well for both you and me! Love you!
Love,
Elder A. Whaley
My new companion is doing great! He is a humble elder and he has that greenie fire! Things are going well with training, but I have definitely been stressed out with it all. It's been a little exhausting trying to do everything, but it's getting better day by day as I involve Elder Swallow a little more and more. He is from Clinton, UT. He likes a variety of things, but something that is cool about him is that he speaks German pretty fluently. He took it all throughout high school.
Well, this week was crazy with all of the changes. Elder Lawless left Monday morning up to Tampa and got home Tuesday evening. I stayed with the Venice elders for all of Monday and Tuesday. On Wednesday, they dropped me off in my area where I worked all day with one of the priests in the ward, then I went back to Venice for the night. I went up to Tampa on Thursday morning and picked up Elder Swallow and came back down and worked. We still managed to get in a good number of lessons with all of the time that I was gone for the week. I have felt somewhat lost and unprepared for the past few days, but so far I have been able to manage and keep everything moving. We had a pretty cool experience with street finding this Saturday right by the church. Elder Lawless and I hadn't done it in a while, but I decided to do it so that Elder Swallow could get some practice. We parked the car and we didn't even get out of the parking lot before we stopped someone who was riding through on their bike. We talked to him and set up a church tour for this next week. About one minute later, someone honked at us and flipped a u-turn to stop and talk to us. The lady was a young women's president who told us about one of her young women that had just moved to Port Charlotte. The girl's parents are not members and she wanted us to teach her and possibly her parents. This all happened within a hundred yards of the church. A few hours later, we took the same route of travel and ran into two more people right outside of the church parking lot and set up church tours with them. It was so cool to have all of that happen right off the bat for us. I guess those are some of the blessings of training! I hope that this week will go well for both you and me! Love you!
Love,
Elder A. Whaley
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| Elder Whaley with his son, Elder Swallow |
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| Elder Whaley and Elder Swallow |
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| Elder Whaley and Elder Swallow |
Saturday, August 23, 2014
Expecting a Son!!!!
8-18-14
Well, this week has been absolutely crazy with things both awesome and not awesome at all. Elder Lawless and I had an amazing week of work in which we taught 38 lessons. I think the highest I have ever done before this was 29. We worked very hard and we didn't have time for a lot of our meals this week. We just skipped them.
Hunter's baptism on Saturday and confirmation on Sunday, went very well. He was nervous for it at first, as was I, because I get nervous over everything, but when it came time for the actual baptism, both of us felt pretty good. I said the prayer just fine, but when he went down into the water, he missed plugging his nose, so he took in a big gulp of water. I felt very privileged to be able to do that for hunter and to exercise the priesthood. Following the baptism, we had a bunch of snacks and we got all of the leftovers.
Elder Lawless confirmed Hunter in Sacrament on Sunday and I got to stand in the circle. There was a couple of really cool things about this baptism. It was the first time that I have ever gotten to baptize someone. And, it was the exact same weekend as the only other baptism that I have had out here with the Arsenal's family last year. Their's was August 17th. I'm so excited to see Hunter grow in the gospel through!
Well, the very next day kind of ruined my excitement. On Sunday morning, we got transfer emails and of course it said that Elder Lawless was going home, but I didn't expect it to tell me that I am going to be staying and training a new missionary. Ever since I saw that email, I have been stressed out of my mind! I want to do all I can to be a good trainer, but I'm worried about being able to completely take over the work in this area and keep it going as well as it has been with Elder Lawless and I. All I can say is that I'm going to be working hard and praying A LOT!!
So this morning was the day that Elder Lawless left for Tampa, and he will be headed home tomorrow. We woke up, did our exercise and got everything ready to head out. We dropped his bike off to be shipped. Before we loaded all up and headed to meet his ride up to Tampa, I asked if he would give me a blessing because I hated to see him leaving me, and I am very worried about taking over and training. I felt a lot better after the blessing, but I am very sad that he is gone. We served together for 7 1/2 months. I hate having my companions leave me, and especially sending them home. I hope that I don't have to send anymore home, ever!
I hope that I can do well in taking over. I don't think that I have the same personal connection with people like Elder Lawless did, but I do know how to work hard, so I'm going to rely on the Lord and that.
Love you all!
Love,
Elder A. Whaley
Well, this week has been absolutely crazy with things both awesome and not awesome at all. Elder Lawless and I had an amazing week of work in which we taught 38 lessons. I think the highest I have ever done before this was 29. We worked very hard and we didn't have time for a lot of our meals this week. We just skipped them.
Hunter's baptism on Saturday and confirmation on Sunday, went very well. He was nervous for it at first, as was I, because I get nervous over everything, but when it came time for the actual baptism, both of us felt pretty good. I said the prayer just fine, but when he went down into the water, he missed plugging his nose, so he took in a big gulp of water. I felt very privileged to be able to do that for hunter and to exercise the priesthood. Following the baptism, we had a bunch of snacks and we got all of the leftovers.
Elder Lawless confirmed Hunter in Sacrament on Sunday and I got to stand in the circle. There was a couple of really cool things about this baptism. It was the first time that I have ever gotten to baptize someone. And, it was the exact same weekend as the only other baptism that I have had out here with the Arsenal's family last year. Their's was August 17th. I'm so excited to see Hunter grow in the gospel through!
Well, the very next day kind of ruined my excitement. On Sunday morning, we got transfer emails and of course it said that Elder Lawless was going home, but I didn't expect it to tell me that I am going to be staying and training a new missionary. Ever since I saw that email, I have been stressed out of my mind! I want to do all I can to be a good trainer, but I'm worried about being able to completely take over the work in this area and keep it going as well as it has been with Elder Lawless and I. All I can say is that I'm going to be working hard and praying A LOT!!
So this morning was the day that Elder Lawless left for Tampa, and he will be headed home tomorrow. We woke up, did our exercise and got everything ready to head out. We dropped his bike off to be shipped. Before we loaded all up and headed to meet his ride up to Tampa, I asked if he would give me a blessing because I hated to see him leaving me, and I am very worried about taking over and training. I felt a lot better after the blessing, but I am very sad that he is gone. We served together for 7 1/2 months. I hate having my companions leave me, and especially sending them home. I hope that I don't have to send anymore home, ever!
I hope that I can do well in taking over. I don't think that I have the same personal connection with people like Elder Lawless did, but I do know how to work hard, so I'm going to rely on the Lord and that.
Love you all!
Love,
Elder A. Whaley
Wednesday, August 13, 2014
Baptism set for 8/16!
8-11-14
My week has been pretty slow, but the highlight of this last week is that Hunter showed up to church, so that means that his baptism will follow through this Saturday, and I will get to baptize him!!!! I'm super excited for that. Quintyn's baptism will have to be pushed back for a little bit, but I think it will still happen eventually. He didn't show up to church yesterday and the rule is that they have to be at church the Sunday before their baptism. We have transfer calls this next Thursday and we will find out Sunday if I am staying or leaving. I probably won't get to do emails this next week because we have to travel up to Tampa on Monday to take Elder Lawless to the mission home and he will fly home Tuesday. So, from Monday to Thursday, I will be staying with some other companionship until I get my new companion. For Elder Lawless' last week, we are working hard and I am doing my best to make sure that he doesn't get any trunkier-haha. I hope that Dad does well this week and I will talk to you in two weeks! Love ya!
Love,
Elder A. Whaley
My week has been pretty slow, but the highlight of this last week is that Hunter showed up to church, so that means that his baptism will follow through this Saturday, and I will get to baptize him!!!! I'm super excited for that. Quintyn's baptism will have to be pushed back for a little bit, but I think it will still happen eventually. He didn't show up to church yesterday and the rule is that they have to be at church the Sunday before their baptism. We have transfer calls this next Thursday and we will find out Sunday if I am staying or leaving. I probably won't get to do emails this next week because we have to travel up to Tampa on Monday to take Elder Lawless to the mission home and he will fly home Tuesday. So, from Monday to Thursday, I will be staying with some other companionship until I get my new companion. For Elder Lawless' last week, we are working hard and I am doing my best to make sure that he doesn't get any trunkier-haha. I hope that Dad does well this week and I will talk to you in two weeks! Love ya!
Love,
Elder A. Whaley
Pray for Investigators!
8-4-14
Well, I have two more weeks with Elder Lawless before he goes home and I'm guessing that I will have to stay here for at least one more transfer with a new companion so he can learn the area. I will be sending a check that my last companion sent for me to ship his bike home. I didn't send it out earlier because all of my envelopes got destroyed by water, so I had nothing to send it in. A bunch of gospel books and material that I had in a bin got ruined because I had my emergency water int he same bin and it broke and leaked all over, and I didn't know about it. Everything got water logged and I had to throw a bunch of it away. Luckily, everything that got ruined was something that I can look up on the gospel library app and all of the other things like pictures and DVDs were dry and fine. The water must have been sitting in there for a while because it smelled pretty bad when I opened the lid. i tried to dry it all out on the back patio, but some things weren't salvageable.
This week was slow for work because we had a lot of people cancel and we had some big meetings that took away from that time, as well. I would appreciate if you all would pray for two of our investigators who are preparing for baptism next weekend not he 16th. Their names are Quintyn and Hunter. They are progressing well, and we just need everything to work out leading to their baptisms.
I hope that this next week goes well for you and that you will be able to handle all that comes at you! Love you!
Love,
Elder A. Whaley
Well, I have two more weeks with Elder Lawless before he goes home and I'm guessing that I will have to stay here for at least one more transfer with a new companion so he can learn the area. I will be sending a check that my last companion sent for me to ship his bike home. I didn't send it out earlier because all of my envelopes got destroyed by water, so I had nothing to send it in. A bunch of gospel books and material that I had in a bin got ruined because I had my emergency water int he same bin and it broke and leaked all over, and I didn't know about it. Everything got water logged and I had to throw a bunch of it away. Luckily, everything that got ruined was something that I can look up on the gospel library app and all of the other things like pictures and DVDs were dry and fine. The water must have been sitting in there for a while because it smelled pretty bad when I opened the lid. i tried to dry it all out on the back patio, but some things weren't salvageable.
This week was slow for work because we had a lot of people cancel and we had some big meetings that took away from that time, as well. I would appreciate if you all would pray for two of our investigators who are preparing for baptism next weekend not he 16th. Their names are Quintyn and Hunter. They are progressing well, and we just need everything to work out leading to their baptisms.
I hope that this next week goes well for you and that you will be able to handle all that comes at you! Love you!
Love,
Elder A. Whaley
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| Elder Whaley and Elder Lawless teaching an investigator |
Sunday, August 3, 2014
Looking Forward to Baptisms!
7-28-14
Ya, I got the package right after emails last Monday! Thanks for making sure that got to me. (Insanity DVDs). We've been using it everyday and it's been really helping me wake up more in the mornings. That's for sure. We had four investigators at church again this last week and a few less active members, as well. We have three of them who are committed to baptism on August 16th and I think they will make it. Their names are Harry, Quintyn, and Hunter. Please keep them in your prayers.
How is Dad doing on the recommendations by the doctor? Well, sorry it's so short. Have a great week! Love you!
Love,
Elder A. Whaley
Ya, I got the package right after emails last Monday! Thanks for making sure that got to me. (Insanity DVDs). We've been using it everyday and it's been really helping me wake up more in the mornings. That's for sure. We had four investigators at church again this last week and a few less active members, as well. We have three of them who are committed to baptism on August 16th and I think they will make it. Their names are Harry, Quintyn, and Hunter. Please keep them in your prayers.
How is Dad doing on the recommendations by the doctor? Well, sorry it's so short. Have a great week! Love you!
Love,
Elder A. Whaley
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| Lunch time at Zone Conference |
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| Car inspection at Zone Conference |
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| Elder Whaley and Elder Lawless |
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