An Awesome Week!

10-13-14

Man, Fall here is great!  The weather is perfect!  It's warm and we'll have a cool crisp breeze about in the 70s, which is super nice!  Especially for biking!  Elder Christensen is thinking that I might get transferred on the next transfer just like you are predicting.  It would really stink, but I would rather get transferred this next one instead of my last one!  Ya, Meet the Mormons was super good!  We saw it on Thursday morning with President Mella.  You'll definitely have to go see it!  A member was telling us it was in the top ten for the box office when it opened, so that was pretty cool!  I definitely think there will be some good that comes from it, as well!  I got the package and it was great!  I opened it and it was all candy and my comp just laughed because we're trying to work out and not eat too much junk food-haha.  So, maybe for future reference, send protein powder or money that I could start sending stuff home or to buy protein powder -haha.  But, the package was GREAT!!!!  I loved it!!!!!  I'm not sure if we can go to a 49ers game, but we'll see.  I really want to, though!  Man, I wish I could have been there to watch the great and glorious game of USU beating BYU-haha!  Dang, Landon had his farewell?  That's crazy, but good that he's heading out!!!  That's good that you were able to help that lady out in the ward!
This week was Awesome!  On Tuesday, we had Zone training meeting and that was pretty good.  Then, Wednesday, we went up to the temple and did a session-which was great.  We were up there most of the day.  We rode up with Bro. Makasini and it was good to see and talk to him and see how people are doing-so that was good!  Then, we ate at their house afterwards-you know how I love food!  On Thursday, we watched meet the Mormons with a couple of other zones and it was a super great movie and president had a screening version and had video of study groups that were mostly nonmembers saying that they would recommend it to friends and that they would be nicer to missionaries that come to their door.  On Saturday we had Scott's baptism and that went well.  There was only a couple of people that showed up, but it was sill good!  This week was awesome!  Hopefully, you have an awesome week, as well!  Hope all goes well!  Thanks for your support!

Love ya,
Ofa Atu
Elder Whaley

Look toward the temple

Elder at the temple

Elder Whaley and Elder Christensen

Elder Whaley

Elder Whaley, Scott, and Elder Christensen

Fixing a bike?

He's BACK!!!!!

10-6-14

So, as you know, it was transfers week this last week and Elder Moody didn't move too far.  He's still in the same Zone with Elder Racule.  My new companion is an awesome, super good missionary from Utah.  I think we'll get along just great!  His name is Elder Christensen!  Yup, you're right, the same one from Morgan Hill!!!!  It's pretty crazy!  It's kinda rare getting the same comp twice, especially with all the English missionaries that are here, so we were both surprised at transfer meeting on Tuesday.  We just laughed and basically said I can't believe this happened-what are the odds?  It's all good!  I'm curious what president has in store for me for my last 2 transfers after this.  At this point, it seems like anything could happen.  I'm sure I'll enjoy it!  Everything is on schedule for Scott's baptism for Saturday.  He just needs to be interviewed by the Zone leaders on Thursday and it will be set.  I think everything will work out fine!
Conference was great!  I noticed there were quite a few talks that were the same subject, but all in all it was really good!  I enjoyed it!  I can't wait to the get the Ensign and read and pick up on the things I may have missed and on new things!  We haven't watched "Meet the Mormons" yet.  We get to watch it this Thursday, so we'll see how it is.  I've seen a trailer and it looks pretty cool!  You asked about how often I pray.  I don't know how many times I pray a day.  I just know it varies day to day, but it's quite a bit.  I liked the parable of the hike that you shared.  It's so true and it's a good theory of the mission!  This week was pretty good.  We were able to watch Conference and meet with a couple of investigators, but we didn't hit our goal on lessons because of transfers and Conference.  We still worked hard and it felt like we visited tons of people this last week.  We still did pretty good considering it was transfer week and Conference.  We only missed our goal by a couple.  While contacting this week, we were actually able to teach some good lessons to people that were somewhat interested, so that was really cool.  Usually people just blow us off when we try talking to them, so hopefully, one of them becomes really interested and want to learn more!  Another good point of the week not related to missionary work is that I heard Utah State beat BYU!!!!!  WAHOOOOO!!!!!  I thought I would just throw that in there-haha!  Well, I hope you all have a great week!  Love ya!

Ofa Atu
Elder Whaley

Zone brunch between Conference sessions

I LOVE MY MISSION!!!!!!!

9-29-14

Things are going well.  Scott is progressing well.  He is still on track for the 11th of October!  The other investigators we'll just have to play be ear I guess.  :/  FHE was super fun!  My eye is fine...all good! It's p-day-it's all good!  (We received a picture and it looked like he had a black eye, but we don't know what happened).  I'm getting a new companion which is always exciting and nerve racking, but I'm exited to see what happens.  Hopefully, someone good-haha!  I don't want to really come home, but it has to happen some time!  I love everything about my mission-the people, the members, the area, the work, and the other missionaries.  Man, they just had an outgoing fireside for the missionaries leaving...and it stinks.  There are some missionaries I have gotten close with and it's weird and stinks to watch them go.  It's going to be weird not seeing them around!  :(  I'll still see some of them after the mission since some are going to BYUI and USU, so I look forward to seeing them again!  Thant's good that you were able to go to the General Women's Conference.  It sounds like it was really good!  I would love to read Elder Holland's talk that you were telling me about.  I'm super excited for General Conference!  It's always super good!  We also get to go to the temple next week-wahoo!!!!  I love going up to the Oakland temple!
   This week was not the best.  We only had about 11 lessons.  We had a lot of people not home or cancel on us!  Hopefully, all goes well this next week and we're able to blow it out of the water!  Since I know the area and will be taking over, I will probably change some things up this next week!  Hopefully, it works!  Other than that, the work is going well and I'm loving it!!!!!  Hopefully, you all have a great week!  Love ya!

OFA ATU
Elder Whaley

Wouldn't want to come home early!

9-24-14

So, first things first.  The reason you didn't get an email till now is because Monday we went to Santa Cruz, and yesterday we were too busy to email.  So, I guess you get one today!  :)  You asked why we go to the wine walks. It's not the best place to contact, but it was at the park we usually contact at and there's a lot of booths set up like a fair for people to buy things, so not everyone was drinking, but there was still a lot.  But hey, everyone needs a chance to hear the gospel.  You never know who is prepared!  Our investigators are doing all right.  One is on track to be baptized in October, the other one has addictions to work on, so we'll see what happens there.  Today we tried to set up an appointment with our 3rd investigator, but she wants to study things out on her own and if she has questions, she said she will contact us.   She was like super solid at first, but she is good at reading the material and all, so we'll see how she rolls out.  Transfers are coming up. Thursday is leadership calls and Saturday is transfer calls, so we'll see what happens.  Elder Moody thinks he's getting moved, which I could see happening.  He's been here for about 6 months.  I would love to go back to the Poly program, but I'm guessing that's not going to happen-haha.  That's cool that you talked to Thomas' mom.  Ya, he told me he was thinking about coming home a little early for school, but that's interesting.  I guess he's needed for that full time.  His president also receives revelation for the missionaries, too, so who knows what's in store for him.  I wouldn't want to come home early (sorry) haha.  Vanessa told me she was royalty.  That's super cool!
This last week was all right.  We didn't hit our goal on lessons, but we were able to meet with all of our investigators and help them out.  We also did quite a bit of service (but I am definitely not complaining on that one).  Hopefully, the rest of this week goes better.  So, on Monday, we went to Santa Cruz and played on the beach.  We played volleyball, rugby, and sat around and talked.  It was a lot of fun!  Then, later that night, we went to the Ve'e's.  They used to be in our ward, but now they're in the Samoan branch.  They had FHE with the Samoan sisters and invited us over.  It was a lot of fun.  We had a talent show for FHE, but sadly, they made a rule, no recording.  But it was funny and cool-a really good night!  I did outer space spray painting and they seemed to enjoy it.  The other people danced the hula or a Samoan dance, or sang to a song-it was really cool!  The main reason they did a talent show was because it was going to be sister Kapu's last time there for FHE and she helped bring brother Ve'e, along with sister Tauti, into the church last month.  It was a special FHE that I'm glad we were able to be a part of!  So far this week, we haven't had a whole lot of lessons, but mostly service.  Hopefully, we can find some more people to teach!  Well, I hope you are having a good week and have a great rest of the week!  Love ya!

OFA ATU!
Elder WHaley

Working hard!

9-15-14

So, this week was a little slow.  The first couple of days, we were on bike and I borrowed another Elder's bike, but it was too small, but at least it worked-haha.  We mostly were doing things like updating the area book and going through papers and basically doing paper work...no fun!  Thursday was Elder Moody's birthday, so the McFarland's had us over and we had dinner and celebrated his birthday.  Then, we went on splits later that night.  On Friday, we were going around doing service and trying to get things done, but not a whole lot of luck.  So, we were behind on our goal for lessons and other things, so Saturday was busy trying to catch up.  It was great, though, because we were working all day, it was a good feeling!  We had 5 or 6 lessons that day-two of them were our investigators, so it was a good day!  Sunday was a good day, as well.  Church was really good.  They talked about tithing in Sacrament and the blessings of it, then they talked about fasting in Sunday school.  After church, we went to the Yuen's for lunch-like we do every Sunday, then we went to a wine walk to go contacting in the park.  There was a lot of people, but no one was interested.  Everyone was too busy drinking!  Oh well.  We stopped by a couple of other members' homes before we came back and we hit our lesson goal!  It was awesome!  So, hopefully, this week runs smoother and we don't have to try and play catch up!  You asked about the Haka.  They taught us the Haka a couple of times before.  It was fun!  How cool that you were able to go to lunch with all those Missionary Mommas!  I can't believe that Jordan is home!!!!!  It seems like everyone is starting to come home...eh scary!!!! :/  Keep safe and be smart!  Thanks for being such a great example and for all the great things you taught me-even though I didn't like some of them at the time!  Haha!  Love ya!

OFA ATU,
Elder Whaley

God Works in Mysterious Ways

9-8-14

Last week was great!  The other missionaries  handed over their investigator because he is staying in our area, so we get to teach him!  All of your prayers help-thank you so much!!!!!  I'm sorry to hear about Aunt Jana passing away-that's so tough.  Good thing for the knowledge of the Plan of Salvation.  This week was a pretty good week...a little slow, but good.  We met with all 3 of our investigators and we had interviews with President Mella.  They were a kinda get to know ya, then an actual interview, so it was alright.  We meet with Carrie this week and you can totally tell she has been prepared-it's awesome!  She wants it to be a family thing, so if she wants to be baptized, she wants her husband to be there, as well.  We haven't met him yet, but hopefully he's been prepared, as well!  We'll see how that goes, but it looks promising!  We also met with Joseph and talked to him a little bit about the Plan of Salvation and that went alright.  We might have to go back over some things with him and see what he remembers from last time.  We also met with Scott on Saturday and shared the Restoration with him and invited him to be baptized and he said YES!!!!  Wahoo!!!!  We set a baptismal date for October 4th, but it might get bumped since it's General Conference weekend, but at least he said yes!  We are still going to meet up with him and finish the lessons.
On Saturday, the ward had a luau!  It was a lot of fun.  We participated in the Haka.  It was a lot of fun and a good experience, with quite a few non-members there along with some less actives-so it was good!  Yesterday was a good day since we had church, but none of our investigators came, though.   We had lunch with the Yuens, Super awesome family.  We then went contacting at Santa Clara university, and they were having a wine walk or something like that, so a lot of people drinking, it was very interesting talking to people especially a couple of gay guys who were drunk and hitting' on us....eeehhhh bleh!  Man, those were one of those moments I have never felt so uncomfortable in my life and violated!!!! Yuck!  So, that was interesting!  After that, we went to dinner and on the way back from dinner, a piece of my frame broke on my bike!  It stinks (but don't worry about it.  I'm going to borrow another bike). So while we were waiting for the Zone leaders to come pick us up, we talked to a lady in a pizza place, since my comp had to use the bathroom.  I talked to her about the gospel and she said she would be interested and also gave us one of her friend's number!  It was pretty cool!  I guess God works in mysterious ways sometimes.  If my bike hadn't broken and if he didn't need to go to the bathroom, we wouldn't have talked with her...awesome!  Tonight, we are meeting with a potential investigator that some members are bringing to their house for us.  I'm excited to see what happens!  Hopefully, it goes well!  Well, I hope you guys have a great week this week!  Love ya!

OFA ATU!
Elder Whaley

Elder Moody and Elder Whaley
at ward Luau

Elder Whaley Luau face art

Blessings!!!!!

9-1-14

Everything is going great!!!  The first part of the week was kinda slow, but the end was great!  We did quite a bit of service through the week almost everyday during the weekdays and we tried visiting people that were far away since we had the car, but nothing really came of it.  So Thursday, we gave the car to another set of elders to use, so we were on bikes.  We did a lot of riding this weekend, but it was all worth it!  We will meet with Scott, the one who called us the previous Sunday, and we met with him Friday and he is now our new investigator that we will be meeting with!  That was awesome! Then, as we got done with that lesson in the morning, we got a referral from the mission office through our phone and Carrie was referred by a friend in Salt Lake. We rode to the other end of our area and she was home and we talked briefly with her and she wants to know more and she seems so prepared-it's awesome.  She's a super nice lady!  So, that's another investigator-Wahoo!!!  Then, after that, we caught another referral we were trying to catch after that and were able to meet with her and she wants to come back to church and get back into the swing of things, so that was pretty cool!  Then, the next day we basically helped people move all day and sometimes it stinks being the biggest guy because then I get volunteered to carry all the really heavy stuff, and awkward things.  Oh well-I'm alright with it, I guess.  I'll just get stronger and more blessings right?  Another set of elders called us during one of the moves and handed over an investigator of their's who has a baptismal but in December since he has to work on somethings.  So, hopefully, we can help him overcome those things and hopefully move it up!  So, basically, we got 2 new investigators on Friday and 1 on Saturday.  Wahoo-3 new investigators in 2 days!  Today the stake had a labor day breakfast that we went to and we had a member come up to us saying they invited one of their old neighbors to take the lessons and he said yes!  Wahoo-another potential investigator.....BLESSINGS!!!!!  Things are going well!
We just came back from the Samoan branch labor day bbq!  Lots of fun!!!  Football, rugby, volleyball, and lots of food!!!!  Man, I miss the branch, but I like this area!  Do you know how hard it is to play tug o war with a bunch of Samoans?  My hands kill!  I am definitely super tired now-especially being back on bikes!  It's always a good feeling at the end of the day to just crash onto the bed and knock out after a good long day of hard work!  I'm excited to see how this week goes.  Oh, I almost forgot-2 of our investigators came to church on Sunday as well!  It was pretty legit!  It's always tricky getting people to church.  I'm looking forward to the rest of this transfer!
To answer your questions, yes I see the McFarland's quite a bit, since he is the ward mission leader. Nope, I don't need anything.  I just got some new pants today since I blew mine out from moving....rrrriiiippp-dang it!  That's so cool that you got to go to the open house in Ogden.
You mentioned the guys talk about following up. Yes, following up is important so people keep commitments and don't fall through the cracks.  Preach My Gospel is definitely very helpful and I've heard a lot of it applies to life even after the mission with everyday things.  It's an amazing book.  Tell Aunt Lezlee I don't want to come back yet!!!!  I'm not ready!  Stop reminding me-I was still thinking I had 6 months......till now! :(  Hopefully, you have another great week!  Love ya!

Ofa Atu
Elder Whaley