3-24-14
Mom,
Read D&C 18:15-16. I would definitely say you had a missionary opportunity right in front of you! That's awesome! There are quite a few people that we talk to that are like that and most of the time; they're set on what happened and in their ways. The only thing I would say is to share your testimony. No one can tell you that's not true because it's yours and that's a great way for the Spirit to come into the conversation! Invite her family over just for a casual dinner or BBQ or something, where they can come into a Christ centered home and feel the Spirit there and hopefully, feel the difference and enjoy your company and hospitality at the house! Or...invite her to the next ward activity or let her know about the youth programs or primary for her kids. Ask the missionaries what you can do. They have been called to that area and know how to work with the people. Those are just my suggestions, but don't let it go by because how often do people get to have missionary opportunities, especially in Idaho? Especially in Sugar City and Rexburg? That is super cool, though! If you invite them over to the house, Dad could help. He's been on a mission and he probably has experiences that can relate with them!
Well, this week has been better. We did quite a bit of service again, which is always fun, but we're still looking for people to teach. Saturday night we went to Wal-Mart and contacted people in the parking lot. Right as we got out of the car, this guy yells across the parking lot and says, "Are you guys elders?!" We told him we were and he told us to come over and he wanted to talk to us. So, we went over and introduced ourselves to him and he said he was a member and was baptized when he was little, but hasn't been to the LDS church for a long time and just moved into a new place. He said he wants us to come over and basically give his home a blessing and so we asked a little about him and he has 3 kids and his wife isn't a member! We'll probably go over this week and get to know them and hopefully, see if we can teach the family! We'll see how it goes! The right place at the right time!!! Wahoo!!! This week, we helped a member pick up a couch from a trailer park across the street and he tried to find the trailer by memory and so we got out to the house that we were getting the couch from and there was a guy that got out of the car and he looked a little worried with 5 guys walking up to him. We told him we were there to pick up the couch, but it ended up not being the house. We started talking to the guy and he was a convert about 3 or 4 years ago and is less active and we just ran into him. It was pretty cool!!!! That was the cool stuff from this week! We are just trying to build the area and the teaching pool! Hopefully, we'll see some more miracles! Hopefully, all goes well for you guys! Keep up the good work!
Love Ya!
Elder Whaley
Sunday, March 30, 2014
Monday, March 17, 2014
Loving Service!
3-17-14
Wow-it's St. Patrick's Day?! I didn't even realize that. How time flies! Hopefully, the green feet trick worked for you. Things are going good with my companion so far. The last 2 weeks have been slow with the work. It seems like no one is available, it's just frustrating sometimes-especially trying to find things to do. The good thing is that just means we need to work harder and push more! This last week we red a lot of service, which I really enjoyed. We did about 15-17 hours. It was awesome! Most of the opportunity just came out of nowhere, so that was a good blessing for us to keep busy mostly! I love service-it's fun! I just hope investigators and less-actives start coming out of nowhere-haha! That made the week good for the most part! I read the article on Jordan you sent! Man, when I saw that picture, my heart just dropped! That is freaking crazy! He will definitely be in my prayers and fasts! He only has 4 months left! At least he has family and bros out in the field that are with him! I'm glad he's recovering well so far1 Hey-you were talking about the piano and how a lot of people seem to contact you to play for them and that you must just be a sucker and not know how to say "no". Don't say that and Don't think that! You have a talent and an opportunity to serve others with your talent and people enjoy it! They know you're good, so they ask you and they enjoy being around you to work with! Don't take those opportunities for granted!!!! I can't believe that Cooper got called to Hawaii!!!!! That lucky boy! I'll try not to be jealous! I love my mission and wouldn't want to change it! It sounds like you enjoyed Sacrament and it's a very interesting topic. I've never really thought about not visiting in the chapel. We always greet people in the chapel, but that is a good way to look at it. Just so you know, I sing hymns now-haha! I can't believe that Brandon is reporting his mission next week-how time flies! Well, I hope you have a great week and don't stress!
Love ya!
Elder Whaley
Wow-it's St. Patrick's Day?! I didn't even realize that. How time flies! Hopefully, the green feet trick worked for you. Things are going good with my companion so far. The last 2 weeks have been slow with the work. It seems like no one is available, it's just frustrating sometimes-especially trying to find things to do. The good thing is that just means we need to work harder and push more! This last week we red a lot of service, which I really enjoyed. We did about 15-17 hours. It was awesome! Most of the opportunity just came out of nowhere, so that was a good blessing for us to keep busy mostly! I love service-it's fun! I just hope investigators and less-actives start coming out of nowhere-haha! That made the week good for the most part! I read the article on Jordan you sent! Man, when I saw that picture, my heart just dropped! That is freaking crazy! He will definitely be in my prayers and fasts! He only has 4 months left! At least he has family and bros out in the field that are with him! I'm glad he's recovering well so far1 Hey-you were talking about the piano and how a lot of people seem to contact you to play for them and that you must just be a sucker and not know how to say "no". Don't say that and Don't think that! You have a talent and an opportunity to serve others with your talent and people enjoy it! They know you're good, so they ask you and they enjoy being around you to work with! Don't take those opportunities for granted!!!! I can't believe that Cooper got called to Hawaii!!!!! That lucky boy! I'll try not to be jealous! I love my mission and wouldn't want to change it! It sounds like you enjoyed Sacrament and it's a very interesting topic. I've never really thought about not visiting in the chapel. We always greet people in the chapel, but that is a good way to look at it. Just so you know, I sing hymns now-haha! I can't believe that Brandon is reporting his mission next week-how time flies! Well, I hope you have a great week and don't stress!
Love ya!
Elder Whaley
What a Tease!
3-10-14
My new companion is Elder Larkin from Morgan, UT. He's been out 6 months and he's pretty good. He still has things to learn, but things are going good so far. He seems to have a pretty strong personality, so we'll see if we butt heads at all. So far, so good, though. I stuck the other elders, that we live with, name tags in jello and the one Elder was NOT happy! I thought it was super funny! Thank you for the shirts. They fit great!!!! I would love to read that ancestor paper that Bro. Smith put together for you. It sounds super cool! Good luck with Vanessa and the Jr. Miss stuff. This week was pretty slow without Elder Christensen here and because it was transfer week, it went slow and we didn't hit all our goals, but hopefully, things pick up this next week. We met with Vaha, but we weren't able to teach her a lesson because we were on bikes that day, so we were tight onetime and we had to ride up a freaking huge, steep hill that drained me for a couple days after. It was a crazy ride, but coming back down was fun, but sketchy going 45 mph on a bike! We hope the work explodes and we find new people next week. Thank you for all you do and have a great week! Love ya!
Elder Whaley
My new companion is Elder Larkin from Morgan, UT. He's been out 6 months and he's pretty good. He still has things to learn, but things are going good so far. He seems to have a pretty strong personality, so we'll see if we butt heads at all. So far, so good, though. I stuck the other elders, that we live with, name tags in jello and the one Elder was NOT happy! I thought it was super funny! Thank you for the shirts. They fit great!!!! I would love to read that ancestor paper that Bro. Smith put together for you. It sounds super cool! Good luck with Vanessa and the Jr. Miss stuff. This week was pretty slow without Elder Christensen here and because it was transfer week, it went slow and we didn't hit all our goals, but hopefully, things pick up this next week. We met with Vaha, but we weren't able to teach her a lesson because we were on bikes that day, so we were tight onetime and we had to ride up a freaking huge, steep hill that drained me for a couple days after. It was a crazy ride, but coming back down was fun, but sketchy going 45 mph on a bike! We hope the work explodes and we find new people next week. Thank you for all you do and have a great week! Love ya!
Elder Whaley
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| One of Shad's pranks! |
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| Goodness gracious-I hope they don't get too mad!!!! |
Transfers
3-3-14
So, tomorrow is transfers and Elder Christensen is getting transferred, which really stinks! But, it's part of missionary life. I have only been here for 6 weeks and still don't feel like I know the area that well. I have done it before, so we will see how it goes! Hopefully, I get a cool comp....or it could be a long couple of transfers! That's all the new and different news. Not much has happened. We helped Momma Smith clean her house. We weren't able to meet with Laura because she was sick and Vaha hasn't been at the house. She's a tough one to catch because she is always in and out. This week might be a little slow since it's transfers. It usually is, so hopefully all goes well. That's awesome you got to meet Elder oaks! I'm kinda jealous. It would be great to hear him speak, but I guess I have met a couple of other apostles. It sounds like a lot of good things were said! It's always a different experience to have a general authority to come and speak to a congregation of certain people compared to General Conference! That is super cool that Vanessa made it through to the next round of UVI, but a bummer that Whitney didn't It's always a good learning experience! BTW, I cut my own hair, so I cut it when I need to. (Side not: I have been questioning him about his hair and asking who cuts it.) That's so crazy that those missionaries' family died! That would be awful! Don't you guys do that to us!!!!!!!! It got up to the 50s for you? Wow! It hasn't dropped below 55 for us. :) It's gotten up to 80 already-it was crazy! It sounds like you had a great, fun, eventful week. Hopefully, you have another great week! Love ya!
Elder Whaley
So, tomorrow is transfers and Elder Christensen is getting transferred, which really stinks! But, it's part of missionary life. I have only been here for 6 weeks and still don't feel like I know the area that well. I have done it before, so we will see how it goes! Hopefully, I get a cool comp....or it could be a long couple of transfers! That's all the new and different news. Not much has happened. We helped Momma Smith clean her house. We weren't able to meet with Laura because she was sick and Vaha hasn't been at the house. She's a tough one to catch because she is always in and out. This week might be a little slow since it's transfers. It usually is, so hopefully all goes well. That's awesome you got to meet Elder oaks! I'm kinda jealous. It would be great to hear him speak, but I guess I have met a couple of other apostles. It sounds like a lot of good things were said! It's always a different experience to have a general authority to come and speak to a congregation of certain people compared to General Conference! That is super cool that Vanessa made it through to the next round of UVI, but a bummer that Whitney didn't It's always a good learning experience! BTW, I cut my own hair, so I cut it when I need to. (Side not: I have been questioning him about his hair and asking who cuts it.) That's so crazy that those missionaries' family died! That would be awful! Don't you guys do that to us!!!!!!!! It got up to the 50s for you? Wow! It hasn't dropped below 55 for us. :) It's gotten up to 80 already-it was crazy! It sounds like you had a great, fun, eventful week. Hopefully, you have another great week! Love ya!
Elder Whaley
Saturday, March 1, 2014
Working and Hiking!
2-24-14
Haha-Momma Smith is awesome, isn't she?! Well, this week was alright-it was slow though. We are hopefully meeting with Laura this week, but we haven't been able to get a hold of Vaha. We just have to catch her whenever we can because she's always in and out. So it's sometimes hard to catch her. On Saturday, we did about 8 hours of service moving people almost all day, so that was fun, but tiring! I've noticed that since I've gotten older, my body gets more sore and tired after some services or p-days now. It stinks! I don't want to get old!-haha! Nothing really exciting or new happened this week. This morning we hiked El Toro and that was a good 30 min. exercise. It was steep towards the top and they have a rope! On the way down the rope part, I flew down. It was fun and scary, but I basically held on and sorta ran/repelled down that part! It was fun, but afterwards, my calves were on fire! It's all good!!!! It sounds like you had a great week with an awesome Sunday. I have a hard time paying attention in Sacrament since we have meetings all morning, then have church and I'm tired, etc.... but church is good, though! It's cool that you mentioned about testimonies because this week I ran across a neat scripture in D & C 62:3-it's a good one! That's good that things are going well for ya! Keep it up!
Love ya,
Elder Whaley
Haha-Momma Smith is awesome, isn't she?! Well, this week was alright-it was slow though. We are hopefully meeting with Laura this week, but we haven't been able to get a hold of Vaha. We just have to catch her whenever we can because she's always in and out. So it's sometimes hard to catch her. On Saturday, we did about 8 hours of service moving people almost all day, so that was fun, but tiring! I've noticed that since I've gotten older, my body gets more sore and tired after some services or p-days now. It stinks! I don't want to get old!-haha! Nothing really exciting or new happened this week. This morning we hiked El Toro and that was a good 30 min. exercise. It was steep towards the top and they have a rope! On the way down the rope part, I flew down. It was fun and scary, but I basically held on and sorta ran/repelled down that part! It was fun, but afterwards, my calves were on fire! It's all good!!!! It sounds like you had a great week with an awesome Sunday. I have a hard time paying attention in Sacrament since we have meetings all morning, then have church and I'm tired, etc.... but church is good, though! It's cool that you mentioned about testimonies because this week I ran across a neat scripture in D & C 62:3-it's a good one! That's good that things are going well for ya! Keep it up!
Love ya,
Elder Whaley
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| Elder Whaley at the top of El Toro |
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| Showing off his muscles at the top of El Toro |
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| Elder Whaley |
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| Holding onto the Iron Rod (rope) |
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| Elder Christensen hiking El Toro? |
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| Elder Whaley and Elder Christensen? |
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| Elder Whaley sure seems to like trees! |
Visiting Referrals
2-17-14
Hey-I got the Valentine's package! Thank you so much! I'm still working on the Rice Krispie treat-haha! Well, things are going good. They are starting to pick up right now. We are really trying to focus on finding people to teach and getting member referrals. We got about 4 or 5 of them this last week, so that was pretty cool. We'll see how that goes! Last night we visited one of the referrals, Laura. We knocked on her door and she opened it up and invited us right in. It was definitely not what I was expecting! She was super nice and talked with us for a while and we brought a Book of Mormon and a restoration dvd. She looked at it and asked, "Is that for me?" We told her it was, but we didn't give it to her because we wanted to talk about it first, but as she kept talking, she asked for the stuff and so we gave it to her and she said she would read it! We didn't even talk about it or ask her to read it!!! It was definitely an interesting experience. When we came in she told us that we're welcome to come in, but, "I'm not going to become mormon!" We are going back in 2 weeks to meet with her, so we'll see what happens! Tonight we have a lesson with a Tongan lady, WAHOO, named Vaha. We'll see how that goes tonight! It should be interesting because we kind had to talk her into taking at least one lesson and go from there and she agreed to that! :) Hopefully, we can progress with her from there. The other Elder that we live with is still annoying, but I usually ignore him or avoid him most of the time, but sometimes there's the 2 cents thrown around every once in a while. I like my companion-he's great! Mom, you need to stop worrying and learn from it...the Lord won't try you more than you can handle! His ways are higher than ours and his thoughts higher than ours. So, just chill! (Totally what Shad likes to say!) Well, I would send you pictures if I had any, I just haven't taken any pictures since I've been here-oops! I'll work on it. On my year mark, it was Elder Christensen's birthday, so we celebrated that and members made cake and had us over for dinner, but I plan to burn my ripped shirt for my year mark! Well, I hope all goes well for you this week and you have success! Love ya!
Elder Whaley
Hey-I got the Valentine's package! Thank you so much! I'm still working on the Rice Krispie treat-haha! Well, things are going good. They are starting to pick up right now. We are really trying to focus on finding people to teach and getting member referrals. We got about 4 or 5 of them this last week, so that was pretty cool. We'll see how that goes! Last night we visited one of the referrals, Laura. We knocked on her door and she opened it up and invited us right in. It was definitely not what I was expecting! She was super nice and talked with us for a while and we brought a Book of Mormon and a restoration dvd. She looked at it and asked, "Is that for me?" We told her it was, but we didn't give it to her because we wanted to talk about it first, but as she kept talking, she asked for the stuff and so we gave it to her and she said she would read it! We didn't even talk about it or ask her to read it!!! It was definitely an interesting experience. When we came in she told us that we're welcome to come in, but, "I'm not going to become mormon!" We are going back in 2 weeks to meet with her, so we'll see what happens! Tonight we have a lesson with a Tongan lady, WAHOO, named Vaha. We'll see how that goes tonight! It should be interesting because we kind had to talk her into taking at least one lesson and go from there and she agreed to that! :) Hopefully, we can progress with her from there. The other Elder that we live with is still annoying, but I usually ignore him or avoid him most of the time, but sometimes there's the 2 cents thrown around every once in a while. I like my companion-he's great! Mom, you need to stop worrying and learn from it...the Lord won't try you more than you can handle! His ways are higher than ours and his thoughts higher than ours. So, just chill! (Totally what Shad likes to say!) Well, I would send you pictures if I had any, I just haven't taken any pictures since I've been here-oops! I'll work on it. On my year mark, it was Elder Christensen's birthday, so we celebrated that and members made cake and had us over for dinner, but I plan to burn my ripped shirt for my year mark! Well, I hope all goes well for you this week and you have success! Love ya!
Elder Whaley
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