5-20-13
My companion....well his name is Elder Carpenter from Safford, Arizona. He has been out for 1 1/2 years so he only has a little while left. Since I'm still in the same ward and area, I had to take over so it has been stressful and I have been really tired lately. He is alright, but he is a little bit on the disobedient side. He's also very trunkie. It's hard to get him to do stuff sometimes-like yesterday, we were supposed to weekly plan and he decided to take a nap instead. I told him we needed to plan and he just layed there and went to sleep, so I kept coming back in and waking him up. I ended up weekly planning by myself since it needed to be done. He finally woke up once our roommates came back-he got out of bed really fast. It should be interesting these next couple of transfers. :/ The last pictures that I took were with less active families and members since Elder Vance left. You finally let Vanessa take her test?! SCARY-well there goes the little red car! :( I am still at the same address. It's really hot here and this week has stunk with bikes between Elder Carpenter and me-we broke 3 chains and got 3 flat tires so this week was definitely stressful. Asa is already a Deacon? Holy cow-that's crazy! You can tell Sr. Andrews that I have lead a little bit of music. Well, I hope all is well. Could you send pictures from home? That would be awesome to see home and you guys and just random stuff. Anyways, Love ya!
Elder Whaley
Saturday, May 25, 2013
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Happy Mother's Day-extra!
5-14-13
We were blessed to speak with Shad on FaceTime (Apple's version of Skype). We talked with him for about 1 hour and 15 minutes. It was awesome! He looked great and seemed to be doing well! On Monday, the day after Mother's Day, we received a letter and a story in the mail. It was such a great letter! I will share the story and part of his letter to us.
The Silversmith
Some time ago, a few ladies met to study the scriptures. While reading the third chapter of Malachi, they came upon a remarkable expression in the third verse: "And He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver." (Malachi 3:3)
One lady decided to visit a silversmith, and report to the others on what he said about the subject. She went accordingly, and without telling him the reason for her visit, begged the silversmith to tell her about the process of refining silver. After he had fully described it to her, she asked, "Sir, do you sit while the work of refining is going on?" "Oh, yes ma'am, replied the silversmith; "I must sit and watch the furnace constantly, for, if the time necessary for refining is exceeded in the slightest degree, the silver will be injured."
The lady at once saw the beauty and comfort of the expression, "He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver." God sees it necessary to put his children into the furnace; but His eye is steadily intent on the work of purifying, and His wisdom and love are both engaged in the best manner for us. Our trials do not come at random, and He will not let us be tested beyond what we can endure. Before she left, the lady asked one final question, "How do you know when the process is complete?" "That's quite simple," replied the silversmith. "WhenI can see my own image in the silver, the refining process is finished."
If we are willing, the Lord will refine us until we become refined and perfect, "even as he is."
Shad's note:
Stay strong, even though it may seem tough, the Lord will strengthen us and refine us to make us better and we don't know who we really are until we are put through trials to see what we will actually do when times are tough. Always trust in the Lord, and turn to him and He will help you and show you the way. I hope this helps during difficult times!
This is part of his letter:
Dear Family,
Hope all is well. Today I went fishing and didn't catch anything, even though there were people catching them right next to us, but it was still fun! Everything is going good here. I'm excited to see you guys or talk to you Sunday! (Mother's Day) Here is a story that I think is awesome and I wanted you to have since times might be stressful or tough right now. Hopefully, it will help! I'm learning so much out here, but I still have a lot I need to learn. I am so grateful for this gospel and Christ's atonement. The more I learn and understand, the more it means to me. I know that through Christ, we can be clean and return to him. I know that Joseph Smith was a true prophet who restored this wonderful church. How lucky I am to have such wonderful parents who raised us in the gospel and I'm so thankful for that! I know I wasn't the best person to be around in the family and wasn't always enjoyable, and so I'm sorry. I am so grateful that our family can be together not only here in this life, but in the next. I love being a missionary in the San Jose mission and all the great experiences I have had already. Even though I didn't express love to you guys, I want you guys to know that I love you and I'm so grateful to have you in my life! Thank you!
Love,
Elder Whaley
We were blessed to speak with Shad on FaceTime (Apple's version of Skype). We talked with him for about 1 hour and 15 minutes. It was awesome! He looked great and seemed to be doing well! On Monday, the day after Mother's Day, we received a letter and a story in the mail. It was such a great letter! I will share the story and part of his letter to us.
The Silversmith
Some time ago, a few ladies met to study the scriptures. While reading the third chapter of Malachi, they came upon a remarkable expression in the third verse: "And He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver." (Malachi 3:3)
One lady decided to visit a silversmith, and report to the others on what he said about the subject. She went accordingly, and without telling him the reason for her visit, begged the silversmith to tell her about the process of refining silver. After he had fully described it to her, she asked, "Sir, do you sit while the work of refining is going on?" "Oh, yes ma'am, replied the silversmith; "I must sit and watch the furnace constantly, for, if the time necessary for refining is exceeded in the slightest degree, the silver will be injured."
The lady at once saw the beauty and comfort of the expression, "He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver." God sees it necessary to put his children into the furnace; but His eye is steadily intent on the work of purifying, and His wisdom and love are both engaged in the best manner for us. Our trials do not come at random, and He will not let us be tested beyond what we can endure. Before she left, the lady asked one final question, "How do you know when the process is complete?" "That's quite simple," replied the silversmith. "WhenI can see my own image in the silver, the refining process is finished."
If we are willing, the Lord will refine us until we become refined and perfect, "even as he is."
Shad's note:
Stay strong, even though it may seem tough, the Lord will strengthen us and refine us to make us better and we don't know who we really are until we are put through trials to see what we will actually do when times are tough. Always trust in the Lord, and turn to him and He will help you and show you the way. I hope this helps during difficult times!
This is part of his letter:
Dear Family,
Hope all is well. Today I went fishing and didn't catch anything, even though there were people catching them right next to us, but it was still fun! Everything is going good here. I'm excited to see you guys or talk to you Sunday! (Mother's Day) Here is a story that I think is awesome and I wanted you to have since times might be stressful or tough right now. Hopefully, it will help! I'm learning so much out here, but I still have a lot I need to learn. I am so grateful for this gospel and Christ's atonement. The more I learn and understand, the more it means to me. I know that through Christ, we can be clean and return to him. I know that Joseph Smith was a true prophet who restored this wonderful church. How lucky I am to have such wonderful parents who raised us in the gospel and I'm so thankful for that! I know I wasn't the best person to be around in the family and wasn't always enjoyable, and so I'm sorry. I am so grateful that our family can be together not only here in this life, but in the next. I love being a missionary in the San Jose mission and all the great experiences I have had already. Even though I didn't express love to you guys, I want you guys to know that I love you and I'm so grateful to have you in my life! Thank you!
Love,
Elder Whaley
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| Shad's Zone at Lexington Reservoir |
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| Shad's Zone in a member's backyard. |
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| Making fresh lemonade! |
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| An Aston Martin car |
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| Elder Whaley, Elder Vance, Sister Allen |
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| Elder Whaley, The Maiavas, Elder Vance |
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| Amatos-The Philly Cheese Sandwich Place-delicious! |
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| Elder Whaley, Elder Vance, and The Gates |
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| Elder Whaley, Sister Drova, Caytlin, Elder Vance |
Monday, May 6, 2013
3 months and counting!
5-6-13
Dear family,
It feels like I have been out longer than that, but at the same time, it's gone by fast. This week, one of the members invited an employee of his to his home and we taught her the first discussion. She is really interested. I invited her to be baptized and she said yes if she came to find out it was true. So she wants to read the Book of Mormon first, even before she meets with us again-which kinda stinks. It was an awesome lesson and the Spirit was super strong. Last night we had dinner with the Relief Society president at her house. She's the one that wrote a book with her daughter, The Multiplier Effect, and her daughter came also, the one that helped write the book. They're really good cooks (still manages to put in something about food-LOL). The daughter's husband was in some movies-Die Hard and Total Recall, because his brother directed those movies, so we got to eat with someone that was in a movie-haha. We recently helped a less active start coming to church again. She's single, Tongan, and has 5 kids. They had nothing in their home, they were sleeping on the floor. So we got them some beds and furniture and other stuff. They're a really cool family. If you get a chance, see if you can get some LDS country music-that would be awesome! The rules are that the music has to be an LDS artist and LDS music. Everything here is a lot more expensive, but they give us enough to buy things every month. I've heard from several friends and you guys. I haven't heard from any other people in the family-I sure would like to, though. I expect to get invitations to Austin's graduation and Macy's wedding so I can see them please! I hope you can figure out what's going on with Dad to help him and hopefully he gets better and the yard gets done. We can Skype for Mother's Day. We need to find someone who has Skype, then they'll call you and let you know what time-at least that's what my companion says. Well, I hope all is well and everything starts to pickup for the better. You guys are in my prayers and I love ya.
Love,
Elder Whaley
Dear family,
It feels like I have been out longer than that, but at the same time, it's gone by fast. This week, one of the members invited an employee of his to his home and we taught her the first discussion. She is really interested. I invited her to be baptized and she said yes if she came to find out it was true. So she wants to read the Book of Mormon first, even before she meets with us again-which kinda stinks. It was an awesome lesson and the Spirit was super strong. Last night we had dinner with the Relief Society president at her house. She's the one that wrote a book with her daughter, The Multiplier Effect, and her daughter came also, the one that helped write the book. They're really good cooks (still manages to put in something about food-LOL). The daughter's husband was in some movies-Die Hard and Total Recall, because his brother directed those movies, so we got to eat with someone that was in a movie-haha. We recently helped a less active start coming to church again. She's single, Tongan, and has 5 kids. They had nothing in their home, they were sleeping on the floor. So we got them some beds and furniture and other stuff. They're a really cool family. If you get a chance, see if you can get some LDS country music-that would be awesome! The rules are that the music has to be an LDS artist and LDS music. Everything here is a lot more expensive, but they give us enough to buy things every month. I've heard from several friends and you guys. I haven't heard from any other people in the family-I sure would like to, though. I expect to get invitations to Austin's graduation and Macy's wedding so I can see them please! I hope you can figure out what's going on with Dad to help him and hopefully he gets better and the yard gets done. We can Skype for Mother's Day. We need to find someone who has Skype, then they'll call you and let you know what time-at least that's what my companion says. Well, I hope all is well and everything starts to pickup for the better. You guys are in my prayers and I love ya.
Love,
Elder Whaley
Thursday, May 2, 2013
Lemonade anyone?
4-29-13
I thought this was interesting. We've definitely had our share of trials (lemons) this last week. When I saw this, I thought of the saying: "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade!"
Dear Family,
Grandma asked the question of how we find service projects. To answer her question, we ask the members, when we go to their house, if they need any help or if they have any friends that need help. We also volunteer for community things-like we serve lunch on Fridays at a Senior Center. So, basically, we try to get service any way we can. We just had a Stake Service Project on Saturday where we helped clean up for a local college. I can't believe the big tree in the front is gone!!!! The front probably looks weird and empty. That's good that you got to get away for a little bit. (I had some friends come and kidnap me to go play lazer tag and get ice cream while we were working on pulling out our big tree in the front). For Mother's Day, I think I can skype if I find someone with it. I'm not sure how it works. I'll have to find out for sure. Yes, we can email friends so I've emailed several of my friends. We have guitars, but I can't play them since I don't know any church songs on it. Things are going great! This last month me and Elder Vance had 32 acts of service for 63 hours. The lessons are starting to pick up and the work is moving along, so that's good! Everything is good! Love you!
Elder Shad Whaley
I thought this was interesting. We've definitely had our share of trials (lemons) this last week. When I saw this, I thought of the saying: "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade!"
Dear Family,
Grandma asked the question of how we find service projects. To answer her question, we ask the members, when we go to their house, if they need any help or if they have any friends that need help. We also volunteer for community things-like we serve lunch on Fridays at a Senior Center. So, basically, we try to get service any way we can. We just had a Stake Service Project on Saturday where we helped clean up for a local college. I can't believe the big tree in the front is gone!!!! The front probably looks weird and empty. That's good that you got to get away for a little bit. (I had some friends come and kidnap me to go play lazer tag and get ice cream while we were working on pulling out our big tree in the front). For Mother's Day, I think I can skype if I find someone with it. I'm not sure how it works. I'll have to find out for sure. Yes, we can email friends so I've emailed several of my friends. We have guitars, but I can't play them since I don't know any church songs on it. Things are going great! This last month me and Elder Vance had 32 acts of service for 63 hours. The lessons are starting to pick up and the work is moving along, so that's good! Everything is good! Love you!
Elder Shad Whaley
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| Shad and Elder Vance picking lemons for a service project. |
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| Shad with a lemon mouth. |
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| Elder Vance with a strange lookin' lemon. |
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| Shad and Elder Vance with their mother load of lemons. |
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| Shad and Elder Vance with bags of lemons. |
Friday, April 26, 2013
Investigators
4-22-13
I hope everything is going well and you're doing alright. This week has been really great! We have had lots of service opportunities, 18 hours, and picked up 2 new investigators and have a meeting with them this week. One of them just told us to come over and talk with them. They have 4 boys and it's a Hispanic family. We set up an appointment with them and the other is a referral from some other missionaries that they street contacted and his name is Wondafresh. He is Ethiopian and seems pretty interested in the gospel-so we'll see how that goes-which is pretty cool! One of the services that we did on Friday was with one of the authors for the multiplier effect, Lois Allen. I think it's about leadership. She is a very nice lady and a really good cook(he always seems to mention something about food-LOL). We are also making a raised garden for someone in the ward, but their ground is really rocky, so we had to use picks for it. This week has been getting into the 80s, so it's been hot. Today we went hiking for a p-day activity. It was pretty fun. We just went with our zone. Everything is going well here and I hope everything is alright at home. Love ya guys!
Love,
Elder Whaley
I hope everything is going well and you're doing alright. This week has been really great! We have had lots of service opportunities, 18 hours, and picked up 2 new investigators and have a meeting with them this week. One of them just told us to come over and talk with them. They have 4 boys and it's a Hispanic family. We set up an appointment with them and the other is a referral from some other missionaries that they street contacted and his name is Wondafresh. He is Ethiopian and seems pretty interested in the gospel-so we'll see how that goes-which is pretty cool! One of the services that we did on Friday was with one of the authors for the multiplier effect, Lois Allen. I think it's about leadership. She is a very nice lady and a really good cook(he always seems to mention something about food-LOL). We are also making a raised garden for someone in the ward, but their ground is really rocky, so we had to use picks for it. This week has been getting into the 80s, so it's been hot. Today we went hiking for a p-day activity. It was pretty fun. We just went with our zone. Everything is going well here and I hope everything is alright at home. Love ya guys!
Love,
Elder Whaley
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| Shad-the guitar man! |
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| ? |
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Tan Man
*Just a little bit of information-a man from Shad's ward (Brother Cook) that he is serving in, emailed us and told us thank you for raising such a wonderful young man and sharing him with them in the San Jose mission. He also told us that he's a hard worker and healthy and has a great sense of humor. Apparently, they let the missionaries take oranges off their tree. They also feed them and try to help the missionaries the best they can. He mentioned that it's a new way of doing missionary work and they are trying to get use to the new way and help the missionaries. It was great to get this email and we were pleased to hear that Shad is doing well.
Dear Family,
It's pretty crazy that I've been out over 2 months. It feels longer than that-time flies by so slowly-haha. Ya Brother Cook is a really cool guy. He has an orange and lemon tree so he has so much that we take some and eat it. He taught us how to make lemonade with the lemons and it's really good! That stinks that the weather there is so yucky, because the weather here has been nice, but really hot. I got a hair cut by a Tongan Elder and I had a bad tan line from my hair. It was ridiculous. It's really sunny here so I am really tan with a super farmer's tan. :) On Saturday we did 10 hours of straight service and then the next day was fast Sunday and so I was super hungry and super tired and sore. It wasn't that great of a day and I was kinda grumpy. :/ Hopefully, my body can recover. It sounds like June will be pretty crazy, but good. Something really cool happened on Thursday. We went to go teach a less active member of the ward, but we didn't feel like the lesson we were going to teach her was right, so we prayed on what to teach her and got a prompting to look over our notes from General Conference. We picked out Elder Uchtdorf's talk about God's hope and light. We went with the bishop to her house and gave her the lesson(talk). The whole time we were there, the Spirit was so strong and after we were done, she said she really needed that since she is going through a hard time. It was such a cool awesome lesson we had with her. I loved it! On Saturday, we got to go up to the temple and do a session and Brother Paulson took us up, but we missed the session we were planning on going to, so we went to the visitors center and watched a movie about the saints settling the bay area in California. It was pretty cool. The Oakland temple is really beautiful and you can barely see the Golden Gate Bridge from there. It was pretty cool. Anyway, hope all is going well. Love Ya!
Elder Whaley
Dear Family,
It's pretty crazy that I've been out over 2 months. It feels longer than that-time flies by so slowly-haha. Ya Brother Cook is a really cool guy. He has an orange and lemon tree so he has so much that we take some and eat it. He taught us how to make lemonade with the lemons and it's really good! That stinks that the weather there is so yucky, because the weather here has been nice, but really hot. I got a hair cut by a Tongan Elder and I had a bad tan line from my hair. It was ridiculous. It's really sunny here so I am really tan with a super farmer's tan. :) On Saturday we did 10 hours of straight service and then the next day was fast Sunday and so I was super hungry and super tired and sore. It wasn't that great of a day and I was kinda grumpy. :/ Hopefully, my body can recover. It sounds like June will be pretty crazy, but good. Something really cool happened on Thursday. We went to go teach a less active member of the ward, but we didn't feel like the lesson we were going to teach her was right, so we prayed on what to teach her and got a prompting to look over our notes from General Conference. We picked out Elder Uchtdorf's talk about God's hope and light. We went with the bishop to her house and gave her the lesson(talk). The whole time we were there, the Spirit was so strong and after we were done, she said she really needed that since she is going through a hard time. It was such a cool awesome lesson we had with her. I loved it! On Saturday, we got to go up to the temple and do a session and Brother Paulson took us up, but we missed the session we were planning on going to, so we went to the visitors center and watched a movie about the saints settling the bay area in California. It was pretty cool. The Oakland temple is really beautiful and you can barely see the Golden Gate Bridge from there. It was pretty cool. Anyway, hope all is going well. Love Ya!
Elder Whaley
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| Shad and Elders at the Oakland Temple |
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| Elder Vance, Brother Paulson, and Elder Whaley at the Oakland temple. |
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
Loving missionary work!
Mom,
I wasn't able to see the video of Austin getting his mission call. I think you can only send pictures to my email, not videos. That is freakin' awesome that he's going to Florida. That's good that you get a break from school for a couple of days! I'm glad that Matt is doing well. It will be interesting to see if he actually writes-haha. That's awesome that Lyndsay got her mission call to San Jose, CA. I think she will really enjoy it and tell her she is lucky because the mission president really loves the sisters and will do anything for them. He is awesome! I was able to watch conference. I loved it all! The talks were all great in their own way and I would love a copy of the Ensign to reread them! We are on bikes all the time, but lately have had problems with them like with flat tires and my tires blowing up! You asked about my backpack. It works great! I just had to buy a rain cover for mine since it's rained a couple of times. Other than that, it works great! Yes, I have taught a couple of lessons. There are a couple of less active families that we are working with that are coming back to reactivity. One of them is Sister Drove, who is Fujian. She is awesome and really loves the gospel. She is such a nice lady and really enjoys us coming over when we can. I really enjoy teaching her. I made breakfast bars-they were really good! Anyways, I love you and love doing missionary work!
Love,
Elder Whaley
I wasn't able to see the video of Austin getting his mission call. I think you can only send pictures to my email, not videos. That is freakin' awesome that he's going to Florida. That's good that you get a break from school for a couple of days! I'm glad that Matt is doing well. It will be interesting to see if he actually writes-haha. That's awesome that Lyndsay got her mission call to San Jose, CA. I think she will really enjoy it and tell her she is lucky because the mission president really loves the sisters and will do anything for them. He is awesome! I was able to watch conference. I loved it all! The talks were all great in their own way and I would love a copy of the Ensign to reread them! We are on bikes all the time, but lately have had problems with them like with flat tires and my tires blowing up! You asked about my backpack. It works great! I just had to buy a rain cover for mine since it's rained a couple of times. Other than that, it works great! Yes, I have taught a couple of lessons. There are a couple of less active families that we are working with that are coming back to reactivity. One of them is Sister Drove, who is Fujian. She is awesome and really loves the gospel. She is such a nice lady and really enjoys us coming over when we can. I really enjoy teaching her. I made breakfast bars-they were really good! Anyways, I love you and love doing missionary work!
Love,
Elder Whaley
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