7-22-13
Haha-that would have been priceless to see you working with the pigs. I wish I could've seen that. (I told him about an adventure I had with my neighbor and I trying to take care of her kids' fair pigs in the dark). I think I'm ready to move on, even though I like this ward. I think I'm ready to move onto the next chapter. I like a lot of stuff about my mission-the crazy experiences, the people, the food (of course), and just being a missionary. My least favorite part of my mission is bike problems, stupid people, or when people just don't get things or don't understand what you're telling them-it's just frustrating sometimes. To help me with different areas of the gospel, I just study on the areas I want to learn about or ask my companion. When things get hard, I just get over it, move on, find ways to improve, and just plow through it. This last week was kinda stressful because we had quite a few bike problems. I had to buy a new rim which cost $60, which stunk. We spent quite a bit of time fixing bikes, but we did do a lot of service, which was fun. We had about 14 hours of service! I haven't gotten the package you sent with Sr. Tingey's sister yet, but I will on Tuesday I think. The mission office called and said they had it. Nothing too exciting happened this week, but it went alright. I hope all is going well for ya back home and goes well this week, also. Dad-that is a very cool experience in the temple and yes, I definitely believe there are certain people in our lives who make a big impact when others can't. I'm thankful for the wonderful leaders I had and the life lessons I have learned from you and mom, even though I wasn't always receptive to some of them-haha. Thank you for sharing that and I will try to remember back to those times. Thank you for all you do for us! Love ya!
Elder Whaley
P.S. I forgive you for selling Penny (our Boxer) -I'm not sure if he really does or if he's trying to put a guilt trip on me. :)
Friday, July 26, 2013
Tuesday, July 16, 2013
Samurai Shad
7-15-13
I got the package from Sr. Powell. It was great! I haven't had stamps, but I got some today, so I will send her something. Everything is good. We just had interviews with president and he said I will probably be transferred this next transfer and possibly be training. He says a lot of stuff to people sometimes, so we'll actually see what happens this next transfer. I'm sorry, I'm just not a very talkative, detailed person. Haha. (I keep telling him to give more details in his letters-we'll keep working on that!) Landon (his friend) needs to put his mission papers in or he will have a harder time as time goes by. Time has gone by pretty fast. It's crazy that I've been out for almost 6 months-1/4 of my mission. I love my mission and the people here are great! Living with other elders is sometimes fun, except one of them is getting on everyone's nerves. He is from Pennsylvania, so we'll see what happens to him in the apartment-hehe. (Whatever that means) That would be great if Josh got that little motor bike going. Something interesting that happened this last week was that my companion has some Samurai swords and one of the other elders got it and was messing around with it and was swinging it around and sliced my thumb! So, I just got some super glue and glued it back together and that was on Saturday night. We just had dinner last night with the Bergh family and they have 4 girls and 1 boy. They were everywhere bouncing off of us and the walls. It was definitely not a boring dinner-haha. They were so funny. Hope all is going well at home. Love Ya!
Love,
Elder Whaley
I got the package from Sr. Powell. It was great! I haven't had stamps, but I got some today, so I will send her something. Everything is good. We just had interviews with president and he said I will probably be transferred this next transfer and possibly be training. He says a lot of stuff to people sometimes, so we'll actually see what happens this next transfer. I'm sorry, I'm just not a very talkative, detailed person. Haha. (I keep telling him to give more details in his letters-we'll keep working on that!) Landon (his friend) needs to put his mission papers in or he will have a harder time as time goes by. Time has gone by pretty fast. It's crazy that I've been out for almost 6 months-1/4 of my mission. I love my mission and the people here are great! Living with other elders is sometimes fun, except one of them is getting on everyone's nerves. He is from Pennsylvania, so we'll see what happens to him in the apartment-hehe. (Whatever that means) That would be great if Josh got that little motor bike going. Something interesting that happened this last week was that my companion has some Samurai swords and one of the other elders got it and was messing around with it and was swinging it around and sliced my thumb! So, I just got some super glue and glued it back together and that was on Saturday night. We just had dinner last night with the Bergh family and they have 4 girls and 1 boy. They were everywhere bouncing off of us and the walls. It was definitely not a boring dinner-haha. They were so funny. Hope all is going well at home. Love Ya!
Love,
Elder Whaley
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| Shad's missionary tag and the bike plate we sent him! |
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| The super-glued cut from the Samurai accident! |
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| Elder Whaley happily biking along! |
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| At the Apple headquarters (He loves Apple computers- probably because of his Uncle Craig!) |
Thursday, July 11, 2013
5 Months Out!
Dear Family, 7-10-13
Wow! It sounds like you have had a good week that's crazy. My week has been interesting. The reason I'm late emailing is because on Monday we went to Santa Cruz and went to the beach. It was really nice and fun, but there was a lot of people there-it was crazy! While in Santa Cruz, as we were walking back to the bus, we saw a guy get stabbed- it was crazy! For the 4th of July, we did service for a member of the ward moving dirt and went around visiting people. They don't have fireworks here or parades or rodeos, so it was a weird 4th of July. It sounds like you guys had fun on the 4th. I got the 4th of July package you sent. Thank you! It's like a parade in a box-haha. I was happy to get it because I wan't even expecting it. I sent home a book today since I can't read it on my mission, but the guy that wrote it is in our ward, so he gave it to us. Well, I'm glad that Corbin finally got his eagle-that's great. That's crazy that McKinley and Brent are already baptized now. Transfers are every 6 weeks, so I have been in this area for 4 transfers now. The next transfer will be the 2nd week of August, so we'll see what happens. Next time someone eggs the house or you hear them, just come out with the shot gun-that will fix the problem-haha! It was probably one of Vanessa's boyfriends-haha. I wrote Austin an email for his first day and he just barely wrote me back. Thanks for sending those pictures of everything. It was good to see them. Everything is going good here. We're having some good success with less actives coming back to church, but we need to find some investigators. Well, hopefully all is well back at home.
Love Ya!
Elder Whaley
Wow! It sounds like you have had a good week that's crazy. My week has been interesting. The reason I'm late emailing is because on Monday we went to Santa Cruz and went to the beach. It was really nice and fun, but there was a lot of people there-it was crazy! While in Santa Cruz, as we were walking back to the bus, we saw a guy get stabbed- it was crazy! For the 4th of July, we did service for a member of the ward moving dirt and went around visiting people. They don't have fireworks here or parades or rodeos, so it was a weird 4th of July. It sounds like you guys had fun on the 4th. I got the 4th of July package you sent. Thank you! It's like a parade in a box-haha. I was happy to get it because I wan't even expecting it. I sent home a book today since I can't read it on my mission, but the guy that wrote it is in our ward, so he gave it to us. Well, I'm glad that Corbin finally got his eagle-that's great. That's crazy that McKinley and Brent are already baptized now. Transfers are every 6 weeks, so I have been in this area for 4 transfers now. The next transfer will be the 2nd week of August, so we'll see what happens. Next time someone eggs the house or you hear them, just come out with the shot gun-that will fix the problem-haha! It was probably one of Vanessa's boyfriends-haha. I wrote Austin an email for his first day and he just barely wrote me back. Thanks for sending those pictures of everything. It was good to see them. Everything is going good here. We're having some good success with less actives coming back to church, but we need to find some investigators. Well, hopefully all is well back at home.
Love Ya!
Elder Whaley
Sunday, July 7, 2013
Hot California!
7-1-13
It has been really hot here. It got to 104 degrees on Saturday and we were doing service outside. I don't think I've sweated that much before in my life-it was crazy hot. That's so crazy that Austin is already in the MTC. Hopefully, he will be able to adjust to the heat in Florida where it's pretty humid. The Scout Encampment sounds like it was fun. I wish I could go, but oh well. We have set up a couple of appointments with that couple who said they wanted to be baptized, but they didn't show up to any of them and didn't come to church and now we can't get ahold of them. :/ We're going to keep trying, though! We don't have any investigators right now. We just got some Sister missionaries covering our ward with us, so we had to give them half of our teaching pool which stinks, but will hopefully pick the work up. Our bishop gave them one of the ladies that I have been working with since I got here and she is really progressing and starting to return to activity. We're trying to get her to the temple, but our bishop gave her to the sisters which really stinks! Anyways, other than that it's going pretty good. My companion crashed on his bike, it was kind of funny, but also looked bad from behind, but he just got a few scratches. I hope all is going well back home. Love ya!
Elder Whaley
It has been really hot here. It got to 104 degrees on Saturday and we were doing service outside. I don't think I've sweated that much before in my life-it was crazy hot. That's so crazy that Austin is already in the MTC. Hopefully, he will be able to adjust to the heat in Florida where it's pretty humid. The Scout Encampment sounds like it was fun. I wish I could go, but oh well. We have set up a couple of appointments with that couple who said they wanted to be baptized, but they didn't show up to any of them and didn't come to church and now we can't get ahold of them. :/ We're going to keep trying, though! We don't have any investigators right now. We just got some Sister missionaries covering our ward with us, so we had to give them half of our teaching pool which stinks, but will hopefully pick the work up. Our bishop gave them one of the ladies that I have been working with since I got here and she is really progressing and starting to return to activity. We're trying to get her to the temple, but our bishop gave her to the sisters which really stinks! Anyways, other than that it's going pretty good. My companion crashed on his bike, it was kind of funny, but also looked bad from behind, but he just got a few scratches. I hope all is going well back home. Love ya!
Elder Whaley
Saturday, June 29, 2013
A Great Week!
6-17-13
Things are going great. We had Elder Echo Hawk come and talk to us on Tuesday and that was awesome. I really enjoyed it. He is a great speaker. Then, for the rest of the week, it's been pretty successful. We have found quite a few people to teach. One of them we came across because we were late for an appointment and we were riding really fast on our bikes to get there. On our way, this young couple, with a young daughter, stopped us and said, "I need to talk to you!" So we stopped and she came up to us and said, "You're the Mormons right?" We said yes and she said that her husband has really bad health and isn't expected to live much longer, so she wanted to be content and learn about what will happen to him in the next life and "We want to get baptized!" It was crazy awesome when they said it, so we got their names and number and hopefully have a lesson with them this week! You guys went hiking? Lucky! It would be to have you email me some pictures. That's hard that Austin has to be set apart as a missionary 5 days before he actually goes into the MTC. I wouldn't be too happy if I was set apart for 5 days before-especially not really doing missionary work and being with relatives. In 2 weeks it's going to be DRAMA, DRAMA, DRAMA with the girls-haha. Have fun with that! It's pretty hot somedays, especially on bikes-but oh well! Hopefully, all is going well for you guys! Love Ya!
Elder Whaley
6-24-13
That's good that the wedding went well. It sounds pretty fun. That's cool that Austin got to go to the sealing, I wish I could have been there! I bet it was sonderful. Aunt Lezlee said they were going to San Francisco, but their not even going to come and say hi? :) It's crazy that it's just you 4 at home now and Austin's in the MTC! We've set up a couple of appointments with that family that stopped us, but they haven't shown up for any of them and they don't have a phone and they were living in a hotel at the time. We called them recently and they weren't there, so hopefully they call our number! I'm not sure what was wrong with the husband, she just said that he didn't have much longer left and she wanted to be settled in a religion when he passes or something, so we are trying to find then again! It's been a little bit frustratin, but oh well, we'll keep trying. The balute isn't that bad, it just looks really bad. It was really weird when my ducks head fell off. We have 6 Elders in our district and no sisters, but we just got sisters over our ward this last transfer, so it should be interesting to work with 2 more missionaries in one ward. My companion is getting better. Well, I Love You!
Elder Whaley
Things are going great. We had Elder Echo Hawk come and talk to us on Tuesday and that was awesome. I really enjoyed it. He is a great speaker. Then, for the rest of the week, it's been pretty successful. We have found quite a few people to teach. One of them we came across because we were late for an appointment and we were riding really fast on our bikes to get there. On our way, this young couple, with a young daughter, stopped us and said, "I need to talk to you!" So we stopped and she came up to us and said, "You're the Mormons right?" We said yes and she said that her husband has really bad health and isn't expected to live much longer, so she wanted to be content and learn about what will happen to him in the next life and "We want to get baptized!" It was crazy awesome when they said it, so we got their names and number and hopefully have a lesson with them this week! You guys went hiking? Lucky! It would be to have you email me some pictures. That's hard that Austin has to be set apart as a missionary 5 days before he actually goes into the MTC. I wouldn't be too happy if I was set apart for 5 days before-especially not really doing missionary work and being with relatives. In 2 weeks it's going to be DRAMA, DRAMA, DRAMA with the girls-haha. Have fun with that! It's pretty hot somedays, especially on bikes-but oh well! Hopefully, all is going well for you guys! Love Ya!
Elder Whaley
6-24-13
That's good that the wedding went well. It sounds pretty fun. That's cool that Austin got to go to the sealing, I wish I could have been there! I bet it was sonderful. Aunt Lezlee said they were going to San Francisco, but their not even going to come and say hi? :) It's crazy that it's just you 4 at home now and Austin's in the MTC! We've set up a couple of appointments with that family that stopped us, but they haven't shown up for any of them and they don't have a phone and they were living in a hotel at the time. We called them recently and they weren't there, so hopefully they call our number! I'm not sure what was wrong with the husband, she just said that he didn't have much longer left and she wanted to be settled in a religion when he passes or something, so we are trying to find then again! It's been a little bit frustratin, but oh well, we'll keep trying. The balute isn't that bad, it just looks really bad. It was really weird when my ducks head fell off. We have 6 Elders in our district and no sisters, but we just got sisters over our ward this last transfer, so it should be interesting to work with 2 more missionaries in one ward. My companion is getting better. Well, I Love You!
Elder Whaley
Monday, June 10, 2013
Doing Well
6-10-13
Here we go with all your questions.......yes, I really did eat Balute. It wan't as bad as I thought it would be. When I was eating it, the duck's head fell off on the table. If I can send videos, I'll try to send it some time. That's the most interesting thing I've eaten so far. It sounds like it was a crazy week, but a good one at that. My companion is doing a little bit better after I talked with him, but we are still working on things. Thanks for sending me allergy medicine-it's working great. I haven't bought a speaker for the Ipod yet, but I've used someone elses and there's good songs on it-THANK YOU! Our aethiest investigator is still gone, but hopefully she is reading the Book of Mormon. This last week was GREAT! We had the most lessons that this area has seen in awhile and we contacted some people on the street and got their numbers, so they are potential investigators. Yesterday we gave talks in church and had a less active and a non-member, that we contacted before, come to church. It was awesome. We then had Stake Priesthood meeting, then went to the president's house and had dinner with him and Eckohawk, a member of the Seventy that is here on a mission tour! I'm glad that I was able to wait to buy my bike out here in the mission field. It was a lot cheaper, but since they're used, they require maintenance sometimes. Hopefully, all is going well for all of you back home!
Love,
Elder Whaley
Here we go with all your questions.......yes, I really did eat Balute. It wan't as bad as I thought it would be. When I was eating it, the duck's head fell off on the table. If I can send videos, I'll try to send it some time. That's the most interesting thing I've eaten so far. It sounds like it was a crazy week, but a good one at that. My companion is doing a little bit better after I talked with him, but we are still working on things. Thanks for sending me allergy medicine-it's working great. I haven't bought a speaker for the Ipod yet, but I've used someone elses and there's good songs on it-THANK YOU! Our aethiest investigator is still gone, but hopefully she is reading the Book of Mormon. This last week was GREAT! We had the most lessons that this area has seen in awhile and we contacted some people on the street and got their numbers, so they are potential investigators. Yesterday we gave talks in church and had a less active and a non-member, that we contacted before, come to church. It was awesome. We then had Stake Priesthood meeting, then went to the president's house and had dinner with him and Eckohawk, a member of the Seventy that is here on a mission tour! I'm glad that I was able to wait to buy my bike out here in the mission field. It was a lot cheaper, but since they're used, they require maintenance sometimes. Hopefully, all is going well for all of you back home!
Love,
Elder Whaley
Thursday, June 6, 2013
Still plugging along
5-28-13
Things are going a little bit better with my companion. The fire alarm works really great, but I think I may need to try the water trick-haha. He is the senior companion, but everyone in our ward thinks I am because of the way he acts. We have met some interesting people out here! It's crazy that Austin is about to go through the temple. It's pretty cool though. Our Zone leader is a funny guy and he just wanted to say hi. I hope all is going well and you are able to get things done during this next crazy month. Happy Birthday mom!
6-3-13
Time has gone by fast, but it seems like I just got out here-it's a crazy weird time warp-haha. I got the package. Thank you sooooo much. All the Elders that live in my apartment are trying to eat my peach rings!!!!! Ahhhh! Those things are gold to me! I can't believe you made that many rolls-that's a lot of rolls. There's a lot of people getting their mission calls and it's so cool! I wish it would rain here-sometimes it gets so hot. I heard from Brother Stewart and he gave me a great message! I'm so jealous that Austin got to go hiking to Tablerock-it sounds like so much fun! You had talked about developing better habits than you and mom regarding reading scriptures, family home evening, prayer, and attending the temple. I think you are great examples in many other ways. Without you guys, who knows where I would be! Something cool that is happening in our area is there is a Spanish Branch opening up that is going to go to our building. We just picked up an investigator who is atheist and she is surprisingly reading the Book of Mormon, which is awesome, but she is going to be gone for 3 weeks. Other than that, nothing really has happened, we just talk to crazy people on the streets. Here's a couple of pictures of me before eating Balute. Hope all is well!
Love,
Elder Whaley
Things are going a little bit better with my companion. The fire alarm works really great, but I think I may need to try the water trick-haha. He is the senior companion, but everyone in our ward thinks I am because of the way he acts. We have met some interesting people out here! It's crazy that Austin is about to go through the temple. It's pretty cool though. Our Zone leader is a funny guy and he just wanted to say hi. I hope all is going well and you are able to get things done during this next crazy month. Happy Birthday mom!
6-3-13
Time has gone by fast, but it seems like I just got out here-it's a crazy weird time warp-haha. I got the package. Thank you sooooo much. All the Elders that live in my apartment are trying to eat my peach rings!!!!! Ahhhh! Those things are gold to me! I can't believe you made that many rolls-that's a lot of rolls. There's a lot of people getting their mission calls and it's so cool! I wish it would rain here-sometimes it gets so hot. I heard from Brother Stewart and he gave me a great message! I'm so jealous that Austin got to go hiking to Tablerock-it sounds like so much fun! You had talked about developing better habits than you and mom regarding reading scriptures, family home evening, prayer, and attending the temple. I think you are great examples in many other ways. Without you guys, who knows where I would be! Something cool that is happening in our area is there is a Spanish Branch opening up that is going to go to our building. We just picked up an investigator who is atheist and she is surprisingly reading the Book of Mormon, which is awesome, but she is going to be gone for 3 weeks. Other than that, nothing really has happened, we just talk to crazy people on the streets. Here's a couple of pictures of me before eating Balute. Hope all is well!
Love,
Elder Whaley
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| Is this really Balute? |
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| Shad holding Balute. |
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