Visit from Elder Bednar

11-17-14

So, I got transferred to the Heritage Oaks Ward, but as of last night, it's the Cuesta Park Ward.  I got in-zone transferred, so I am in the same Stake and still see the same missionaries basically.  The Stake realigned all the ward boundaries in the Stake to make a new ward, so that meeting happened last night.  We might be covering 2 wards, but not sure yet.  It seems like a pretty good place.  I just replaced Elder Jones, the one I trained, and everyone loves him here, which is awesome to see.  My new companion is Elder Strauss from Virginia.  I knew him from the Menlo Park Zone, but he is great.  It will be fun-haha.  He's a goofy kid!  This week was interesting.  I got transferred Tuesday and went around and visited some families, then went to 2 funerals on Wednesday and Thursday-those were interesting, but pretty good, even though I didn't know them.  Then, Saturday, we went up to the Oakland temple and went into the tri-Stake Center and had Elder Bednar talk to us!  It was really good!  It was different from other general authorities that come and talk to us.  He told us not to take notes on what he said, but on what we learn from the Spirit, because the church has a culture of taking notes and never using them again and that it is a stupid culture-haha.  It was pretty funny.  He was very straight forward and very direct with his comments to us, but I liked how he presented everything.  He had us read 3 talks beforehand and basically most of the time he asked what we learned and someone would stand up and say what they learned and he would ask a follow-up question on how they learned that or why that stood out to them and then sometimes go off of that and share his thoughts.  The other half of the meeting was us asking him questions.  It was pretty interesting and pretty cool!  I think his main focus that I got from it is to be an agent and not an object.  So basically, Ether 12:6.  We combined with the Oakland San Francisco mission so there were a lot of missionaries there.  I saw Stetson Bradshaw there-it was awesome to see him!!!!!!
I was thinking about just calling home for Christmas this time, but we'll see.  It sounds like you had  a crazy week with the flu.  I hope everyone gets feeling better!  Ya, it's been getting cold here, too.  It's in the 60s and 70s-haha.  I can't believe Thanksgiving and Vanessa's birthday are so close.  It feels like I just emailed yesterday.  This week flew by so fast!!!!  Well, I hope you have a great week this week!  Love ya!

Ofa Atu,
Elder Whaley

Elder Whaley and Elder Bradshaw, both from Sugar City

Getting Ready to Transfer

11-10-14

A lot of things have been going on.  I got called Saturday night telling me I was getting transferred and Elder Christensen is training.  We'll see what happens-I have no clue!  I don't know when my release date is, but I'm not worried about it now!  This week was pretty good.  We were able to see quite a few people.  It was pretty good.  The Misa Alifua twins in our ward, got baptized and it was a good baptism! Then, basically, I just spent time saying good bye to people.  It stinks not knowing where you're going until transfer meeting.  Other than that, nothing else really happened this week.  it sounds like you have a busy week ahead of you.  Hopefully, it all goes well.  I think I would just like money for Christmas.  That way I can either buy food or things I need or protein.  Man, I can't believe it's already almost Christmas.  Sorry so short.  Love ya!

Ofa Atu,
Elder Whaley

Missionary Work Going Up and Down

11-4-14

Fall is here!  It is in the 70s mostly with a nice cool breeze.  It rained last week, so that was good!  This area needs it.  I'm glad you survived Halloween-haha.  That's great that you were able to go visit/help grandma!  We didn't really do anything for Halloween.  We basically did service all day, then went to a member's house for dinner and then went home since we had to be home by 7, which was kinda lame, but oh well!  That's good they had a good turn out at the Trunk or Treat!  Oh the yummy scones!  It sounds like you had a good FHE planned.  I'll try to write down what I'm thankful for.  I still need to try to write in my journal.  I did good for a while, but then haven't done it lately.  Transfers are coming up.  Transfer calls are Saturday night and transfer meeting is Tuesday, so we'll see what happens.  I have no clue what is going to happen!
This last week was a pretty good week!  We were able to see quite a few people we haven't seen for a while, so that was good.  We had a lesson last night with a guy we contacted last night and he seems pretty prepared!  It's exciting!  We went to Santa Cruz yesterday.  It was lots of fun and definitely needed-haha.  It was nice to be on the beach!  Towards the end of p-day our golden investigator sent an eight page text basically dropping us because her husband isn't on board with the idea.  She was saying that she is going to raise her kids close to the standards of the church because she sees good in it.  Man, it really stinks!  She is sooo prepared, but I guess it's just not the right time or something!  Ahhh man!  I believe she will get baptized in the future for sure!  But, it still is a big bummer!!!!  :(  On the bright side, Scott passed the sacrament on Sunday, so that was awesome!  It was great to see!  The work is going well, but it's kinda going up and down right now, so sometimes it's frustrating.  Other times it's definitely worth it!  Hey-I got a call last night from Sister McFarland-haha.  Don't worry so much-I'm fine!  You worry too much.  I always email, even though it's not always on Mondays!  Hopefully, you have a great week.  Love ya!

Ofa Atu!
Elder Whaley

A sand sculpture at Santa Cruz

Elder Whaley at Santa Cruz

Elder Whaley at Santa Cruz

Elder Christensen and Elder Whaley
at Santa Cruz

Elder Whaley at Santa Cruz

Elder Whaley soaking up some rays at Santa Cruz

P-day at Santa Cruz

Elder Whaley's Clever Costume!

10-27-14

Our two investigators are doing alright.  We weren't able to meet with them this week, so we'll see if we can catch up with them this week.  The work is about the same, but it's getting darker earlier, so not many people answer their doors when it gets dark or let us in, so it's kinda hard to find people to visit at nights.  This week was pretty good.  Last Tuesday we played rugby on p-day.  It was so much fun, but I haven't been so sore like that for a while.  We might play again today!  This week we were able to get in with a couple less actives who we haven't  been able to get ahold of for a while.  They're both cool, just busy most of the time.  We stopped by a former investigator last night to see if we could start coming by again.  He wasn't too interested, but said we could come by, so we'll see how it goes.  Then on Saturday night, our ward had the trunk or treat and I handed out some potatoes and glowsticks, thanks for those by the way!  It was fun because I made an awesome costume!  It was legit-hahah! I was stoked about it!  Then, on Sunday, Scott got the Aaronic priesthood, so he's doing really well!  It's awesome to watch him progress in the church!  That's kinda how our week went!  Lots of fun!  I hope all goes well for ya and you have a great week!  Love Ya!

Ofa Atu!
Elder Whaley

Elder Whaley's costume

Elder Whaley's clever costume for the
Trunk or Treat.  

Loading up the costume to take to the
Trunk or Treat.  Elder Christensen hanging on.

Just Plugging Along Working Hard

10-20-14

   I really hate people telling me how much time I have left, it's zooming by too fast!!!  I enjoyed the things in the package and enjoyed getting fat from it-haha jk!  So Landon said for me not to get married before he gets home huh?  Hopefully, that won't happen too fast...but ya never know!  Don't you miss being in the primary and having to deal with the primary program mom?  Haha.  Tell Chase that I'm either going to get a pig or borrow his and take it for walks for him-haha!  (Shad's cousin has a small pig and took it for a walk at the park and it really attracted the women).  I'll probably hand out spuds for Halloween, just for fun.  Brother Stewart tried climbing to the top of the Tetons?  That is super cool!  That would be an intense hike!
   This week was all right.  It's getting darker earlier, so not too many people answer their door after dark so it makes it tougher to get into homes at night, but the work is going pretty good.  We picked up 2 new investigators, so we'll see how they pan out and what happens.  It's really exciting!  Today we had a mission tour with Elder Pino, from the 70, come and speak to us!  It was really good.  He talked to us about not campaign ourselves to others and ways we can help hasten the work in the best mission in the world.  It was a little different, though, since he spoke in Spanish and he had a missionary translate for him.  Quite interesting, but still good!  Other than that, nothing too exciting.  Just trying to visit people and work hard!  I hope you have a great week and all goes well for ya!

Love ya,
Ofa Atu!
Elder Whaley

Elder Shad Whaley in front of the 49ers football stadium

Elder Shad Whaley serving at "Our Daily Bread"
handing out food