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
Monday, March 17, 2014
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
 |
| Elder Whaley at the top of El Toro |
 |
| Showing off his muscles at the top of El Toro |
 |
| Elder Whaley |
 |
| Holding onto the Iron Rod (rope) |
 |
| Elder Christensen hiking El Toro? |
 |
| Elder Whaley and Elder Christensen? |
 |
| 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
Sunday, February 16, 2014
Visit from Elder Cook
2-10-14
I got the year "Hump Day" package! It was great! The shirt fit well! I was not expecting that! Thank you! I forgot to look what size of white shirt I wear-oops-sorry! I got a couple of shirts from President on Saturday because we had a mission wide conference and Elder Cook came and talked to us! It was really good!!!! He left an apostolic blessing on us and the mission! It was Legit!!!! Then, after Elder Cook left, President had us stay there and turned it into one big Zone Conference, so it was good! I got to see Elder Jones and Elder Porter along with most of the other missionaries in my last Zone. The Tongan sisters gave me a Lava Lava! Wahoo!!!! Nothing new or exciting this week. The work here is pretty slow and we're trying to find people to teach. But, it's a good area. It sounds like you had a good week this week and hopefully, it goes well this week for you, too! Love ya!
Elder Whaley
I got the year "Hump Day" package! It was great! The shirt fit well! I was not expecting that! Thank you! I forgot to look what size of white shirt I wear-oops-sorry! I got a couple of shirts from President on Saturday because we had a mission wide conference and Elder Cook came and talked to us! It was really good!!!! He left an apostolic blessing on us and the mission! It was Legit!!!! Then, after Elder Cook left, President had us stay there and turned it into one big Zone Conference, so it was good! I got to see Elder Jones and Elder Porter along with most of the other missionaries in my last Zone. The Tongan sisters gave me a Lava Lava! Wahoo!!!! Nothing new or exciting this week. The work here is pretty slow and we're trying to find people to teach. But, it's a good area. It sounds like you had a good week this week and hopefully, it goes well this week for you, too! Love ya!
Elder Whaley
One Year Mark!!!
2-3-14
Ahhhhh noooo, it can't already be a year!!!!! It's going by too fast! It needs to slow down! I have learned lots! So much, I don't want to put it down-it will take too long! haha. Mama Smith is such a funny lady. Ya, you will probably be hearing from her quite a bit, I'm guessing. We helped her with a couple of things around the house and she told me how you told her that you were thinking I'd be sad to not be able to watch the Super Bowl! I'm fine with it! The good thing is, the Seahawks pulled it off! Someone told us the score and that was awesome! Yeah Seahawks! I enjoyed the birthday package-thank you sooo much! I used the decorations to make a mess of other missionaries cars-haha-so it was great!! Things are going good here. The work is slow so we are trying to find new people to teach and that's always a little rough. I haven't taken any pics since I've been here, though, so I don't have any for you. We have an Elder that we live with that is testing my patience. I think I might have to resort to pulling the scene from The Best 2 Years on him where they hog tie him-haha. It would be funny. Man, how I noticed how much I hate being told what to do!!!!!! He is one of those elders that is so strict that he makes up meanings to rules or makes up his own rules! He constantly tells us what to do and he just likes listening to himself talk and he's one of those that are like look at me, I'm more obedient than you, you're doing this wrong, you can't do that. I guess I just need to stop praying to gain more patience because now it's getting tested! I'll have to look to see what size of shirt I wear. President banned playing with fire and we are not supposed to burn shirts for our year mark, but one of my shirts is already ripped from the washer, so it's going to get burnt anyways! Hahah! We'll see! Hopefully, all goes well for you this week! Love ya!
Elder Whaley
Ahhhhh noooo, it can't already be a year!!!!! It's going by too fast! It needs to slow down! I have learned lots! So much, I don't want to put it down-it will take too long! haha. Mama Smith is such a funny lady. Ya, you will probably be hearing from her quite a bit, I'm guessing. We helped her with a couple of things around the house and she told me how you told her that you were thinking I'd be sad to not be able to watch the Super Bowl! I'm fine with it! The good thing is, the Seahawks pulled it off! Someone told us the score and that was awesome! Yeah Seahawks! I enjoyed the birthday package-thank you sooo much! I used the decorations to make a mess of other missionaries cars-haha-so it was great!! Things are going good here. The work is slow so we are trying to find new people to teach and that's always a little rough. I haven't taken any pics since I've been here, though, so I don't have any for you. We have an Elder that we live with that is testing my patience. I think I might have to resort to pulling the scene from The Best 2 Years on him where they hog tie him-haha. It would be funny. Man, how I noticed how much I hate being told what to do!!!!!! He is one of those elders that is so strict that he makes up meanings to rules or makes up his own rules! He constantly tells us what to do and he just likes listening to himself talk and he's one of those that are like look at me, I'm more obedient than you, you're doing this wrong, you can't do that. I guess I just need to stop praying to gain more patience because now it's getting tested! I'll have to look to see what size of shirt I wear. President banned playing with fire and we are not supposed to burn shirts for our year mark, but one of my shirts is already ripped from the washer, so it's going to get burnt anyways! Hahah! We'll see! Hopefully, all goes well for you this week! Love ya!
Elder Whaley
 |
| Someone give Elder Whaley a haircut!!!! Hump Daaaaay! |
Saturday, February 1, 2014
Adjusting to New Area
1-27-14
It's going well in my new area. Morgan Hill is more spread out and more country, so that's nice and I enjoy not being in the compact city. Most of the people that live here are retired and rich, so the work is a lot slower than Redwood City and....THERE'S NO POLYS!!!!!!!!....which stinks!!!!!!! Man, I'm kinda homesick for Redwood City!!! It's all white older people and a lot of interesting people. So you talked to Momma Smith huh? Yes, she is quite the character, but she is AWESOME!!!! She made me a football blanket along with a football cooking apron and football bag and stove grabbers-so it was pretty cool. (A sister in Shad's mission, Momma Smith, called us on Saturday, Jan. 25th, and was so complimentary about Shad and thanked us for sharing him with them. She really loves the missionaries and makes them all blankets and takes good care of them.) Supposedly, there is a less active in our ward who is the 2nd most decorated WW2 vet and they made a movie of him called, "The Frog Man." I'm not sure I quite believe him and he was telling us he doesn't have to pay taxes because it is illegal and he won in court on that. He also said that his son that lives with him, doesn't have to register his car of have a license because of the freedom to travel law or something like that. He supposedly challenged it in court and won. There are definitely some interesting people that I've met here so far. For the most part, I like it here. We are living with 2 other Elders, as well, and I think it will be fine. I can't believe that Vanessa crashed the car. I knew that was going to happen sooner or later....oh man. That's the only thing she told me. She said she crashed and went on a date with J. At least they're alright. You asked if there's anything I need.....I need some more shirts. The washer ripped up one today and my other ones are turning gray-haha. I also finally have a WALMART!!! No more Target-yeah!!!!! Well, we'll see how things go this transfer! Hopefully, all goes well for you this week. Love ya!
Elder Whaley
It's going well in my new area. Morgan Hill is more spread out and more country, so that's nice and I enjoy not being in the compact city. Most of the people that live here are retired and rich, so the work is a lot slower than Redwood City and....THERE'S NO POLYS!!!!!!!!....which stinks!!!!!!! Man, I'm kinda homesick for Redwood City!!! It's all white older people and a lot of interesting people. So you talked to Momma Smith huh? Yes, she is quite the character, but she is AWESOME!!!! She made me a football blanket along with a football cooking apron and football bag and stove grabbers-so it was pretty cool. (A sister in Shad's mission, Momma Smith, called us on Saturday, Jan. 25th, and was so complimentary about Shad and thanked us for sharing him with them. She really loves the missionaries and makes them all blankets and takes good care of them.) Supposedly, there is a less active in our ward who is the 2nd most decorated WW2 vet and they made a movie of him called, "The Frog Man." I'm not sure I quite believe him and he was telling us he doesn't have to pay taxes because it is illegal and he won in court on that. He also said that his son that lives with him, doesn't have to register his car of have a license because of the freedom to travel law or something like that. He supposedly challenged it in court and won. There are definitely some interesting people that I've met here so far. For the most part, I like it here. We are living with 2 other Elders, as well, and I think it will be fine. I can't believe that Vanessa crashed the car. I knew that was going to happen sooner or later....oh man. That's the only thing she told me. She said she crashed and went on a date with J. At least they're alright. You asked if there's anything I need.....I need some more shirts. The washer ripped up one today and my other ones are turning gray-haha. I also finally have a WALMART!!! No more Target-yeah!!!!! Well, we'll see how things go this transfer! Hopefully, all goes well for you this week. Love ya!
Elder Whaley
Birthday and Transfer
1-21-14
Well, I did get transferred and I don't have a lot of time right now since we need to be working, but the library was closed yesterday since it was a holiday. I got transferred to Morgan Hill. It seems like a pretty nice area, but all I have done is drive to the apartment and unpacked. I have heard good things about this area, so I'm excited, but the other half of me is broken since I had to leave Redwood City, which stinks. I guess this is where the Lord needs me and I asked my companion, Elder Christensen, if there are any Polys and he said maybe like one or two.....NOOOOOOO! Dang it! What I have seen so far is that it's less crowded and everything is more spread out-that's awesome! Elder Porter, my MTC companion, took my spot with Elder Jones! That lucky son of a gun!!!! Man this Stinks! But it's exciting at the same time!!! Ahhhhhh, stupid feelings!!!!!! I was so mad when they called me on Saturday night...... worst birthday present ever! haha. There was a lot of people getting transferred in our zone and it really stunk! Sunday night we had a Zone testimony meeting and that was amazing to hear -especially the people that were leaving, but it stunk at the same time. It felt like my heart was ready to pop or explode saying good bye to these awesome missionaries along with feeling the Spirit so strongly!!!!! MAN, why did I have to get transferred??????? Hopefully, I enjoy my next area as well here in Morgan Hill! Sitting in Sacrament on Sunday was good, but it stunk because I knew I wouldn't be able to see the members that I have grown to know and love next week. It was a super weird sad feeling!!!!! Saturday was good! We played slaughter ball at the Stake Center early in the morning with most of the missionaries in the Zone! Then, we went and did service for a couple of hours. After that, we went to a place called Stacks and got Oreo pancakes that some people told us about! They were really good! Later that night, we went to Applebee's with Tiki Makasisni and his family and they didn't even know it was my birthday until the end of dinner. They were mad at me, but it was fun! On Friday, the other Makasini's caught me off guard at dinner. They totally acted like they usually do and played it really well until they came in with a cake and candles. I was definitely not expecting that! It was pretty cool! Thanks for contacting them! Yes, Semisi finally got baptized. I was able to baptize him. It was an awesome experience!!!! It was great! After 6 months of working with him! But other than all of the transfer stuff, I had a lot of fun and worked hard this last week! Man, I'm going to miss that area!!!! Yesterday was really fun. We woke up early and went hiking again up in the Los Altos Hills and might have possibly gotten poison oak or ivy. :/ Then, we got the Zone together and had a bbq at a park and played football and ultimate Frisbee! It was lots of fun. Then we went to the Stake Center after that and played slaughter ball for awhile, then shot hoops and I was able to dunk it a couple of times-it was awesome! Hopefully, you guys have a great week this week and all goes well. Love ya and I LOVE this work!!!!!!
ofa atu
Elder Whaley
"Horah for Israel"
Well, I did get transferred and I don't have a lot of time right now since we need to be working, but the library was closed yesterday since it was a holiday. I got transferred to Morgan Hill. It seems like a pretty nice area, but all I have done is drive to the apartment and unpacked. I have heard good things about this area, so I'm excited, but the other half of me is broken since I had to leave Redwood City, which stinks. I guess this is where the Lord needs me and I asked my companion, Elder Christensen, if there are any Polys and he said maybe like one or two.....NOOOOOOO! Dang it! What I have seen so far is that it's less crowded and everything is more spread out-that's awesome! Elder Porter, my MTC companion, took my spot with Elder Jones! That lucky son of a gun!!!! Man this Stinks! But it's exciting at the same time!!! Ahhhhhh, stupid feelings!!!!!! I was so mad when they called me on Saturday night...... worst birthday present ever! haha. There was a lot of people getting transferred in our zone and it really stunk! Sunday night we had a Zone testimony meeting and that was amazing to hear -especially the people that were leaving, but it stunk at the same time. It felt like my heart was ready to pop or explode saying good bye to these awesome missionaries along with feeling the Spirit so strongly!!!!! MAN, why did I have to get transferred??????? Hopefully, I enjoy my next area as well here in Morgan Hill! Sitting in Sacrament on Sunday was good, but it stunk because I knew I wouldn't be able to see the members that I have grown to know and love next week. It was a super weird sad feeling!!!!! Saturday was good! We played slaughter ball at the Stake Center early in the morning with most of the missionaries in the Zone! Then, we went and did service for a couple of hours. After that, we went to a place called Stacks and got Oreo pancakes that some people told us about! They were really good! Later that night, we went to Applebee's with Tiki Makasisni and his family and they didn't even know it was my birthday until the end of dinner. They were mad at me, but it was fun! On Friday, the other Makasini's caught me off guard at dinner. They totally acted like they usually do and played it really well until they came in with a cake and candles. I was definitely not expecting that! It was pretty cool! Thanks for contacting them! Yes, Semisi finally got baptized. I was able to baptize him. It was an awesome experience!!!! It was great! After 6 months of working with him! But other than all of the transfer stuff, I had a lot of fun and worked hard this last week! Man, I'm going to miss that area!!!! Yesterday was really fun. We woke up early and went hiking again up in the Los Altos Hills and might have possibly gotten poison oak or ivy. :/ Then, we got the Zone together and had a bbq at a park and played football and ultimate Frisbee! It was lots of fun. Then we went to the Stake Center after that and played slaughter ball for awhile, then shot hoops and I was able to dunk it a couple of times-it was awesome! Hopefully, you guys have a great week this week and all goes well. Love ya and I LOVE this work!!!!!!
ofa atu
Elder Whaley
"Horah for Israel"
 |
| Elder Whaley, Semisi, and Elder Jones at Semisi's baptism |
 |
| Shad's birthday $ from the birthday box. |
 |
| Birthday cake made by the Makasini's. |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)