January 7, 2019
Week 67: 15 Year Old Champ
During this time of year, it gets super cold and super dark really early. My 6pm it looks like it’s 10pm. We always get asked, “What are you doing out here so late at night?” when it’s only 6:30pm haha. People say that when it gets dark outside, people don’t want to open their doors and talk to you, but that’s totally not an accurate statement because there ARE people who will open their doors and talk! There’s no “dead” hour. There’s always someone who’s ready to listen and talk to you at every moment of the day. We just have to find them 🙂
On Friday, Hermana Leavitt and I were out and it was almost time for us to go back home but we both knew that there was someone else who needed us before we went in. It was about 8:45pm and we had to be home at 9pm. We find the address to someone named Anthony who has been taught by missionaries forever ago and so we decide to stop by and meet him. We knock on the door, and a woman answers, assumes we don’t speak spanish, and through a lot of gestures, communicates to us that she is getting someone else in the house who speaks english haha. That’s alright. Someone named Mario comes to the door! He’s a 15 year old kid. Kind of shy but was super interested in learning about our message! (turns out that Anthony is his brother but had moved a while ago). He said he was going out of town but was would be available to meet on Wednesday! So awesome!We text him the next day and follow-up on how he’s been doing and if he had a chance to read the pamphlet we left him and he said that he hasn’t been able to do it yet but that he will, and also that he stayed in Yuma and didn’t leave town like he thought he would. So we invite him to church and he says YES! He woke up early the next day and came to church all by himself! Only a 15 year old kid! He’s the man! His favorite part of the whole thing was hearing everyone’s testimonies in church. He really enjoyed that!
Life as a missionary is the best. And it is the most comforting feeling to know that God will never cease to amaze me, even after my mission! So life will always be getting better. I love that I am able to focus 100% of my attention and energy on someone who I love so much- Jesus Christ! I hope you have the best week 🙂
Love,Hermana Whitney
-the day before transfers! sis conlee (the one in the mexican dress) moved to my phoenix home!
-sis ramirez is the new missionary- she’s the bomb!!!!! i LOVE her.
-my district before tranfer day
-DND Co. : the girls that i spoke about last week!Â
January 14, 2019
Week 68: Let’s Teach Him
We had the craziest miracle everrrrr!
So there’s a Pupusa Shop that we go to for dinner sometimes and there’s always people to talk to there so it’s a good spot to be able to share our message. This time, we didn’t have too much time to talk to everyone because we had to pick up the food and book it to meet with other missionaries who had appointments to go to and we didn’t want to make them late. So Hermana Leavitt and I try to talk everyone that is there in the time that we have while our order is being prepared. One guy comes in and is on his phone, doesn’t really seem like he wants to talk to us. We exchange pleasantries but that’s as far as that went before time ran out and we had to go. Once we left, he also left but he kept looking at us. We waved and then headed for the church building where we were to meet the other missionaries (6 missionaries in total). By now we are driving for about 10 minutes and I turn to Hermana Leavitt’s side and I’m like, “Wait isn’t that the guy we saw at the pupusa shop?” The guy and I make eye contact and he smiles and waves. Hermana Leavitt starts getting super anxious because he kept going behind our car and then moving to the side of our car and then back behind our car. Hermana Leavitt says, “What if he’s following us?? What do we do?” And I said, “Let him follow us! We’re going to the church building with 6 missionaries. He can’t do anything. Let’s teach him!!” Hermana Leavitt was like, “WHATTT IN THE WORLD HERMANA??” I couldn’t stop laughing but I was dead serious. So she continues to try to lose him and she eventually does, but he’s quickly finds us again and then circles the church building.We pass the food to the missionaries and then Hermana Leavitt and I and 2 other elders go out and talk to him. The guy’s facial expression was basically like, “I don’t really know why I’m here, but I’m here.” I asked “Did you get food?” and he said yes. And so we were like, “Well then park your car and come in and eat with us!” He parks his car and walks in the church building with us.He sits down with 6 of us missionaries around him!! We spoke for a solid 45 min to an hour and it was THE CRAZIEST CONVERSATION I’VE EVER HAD. He said, “I never thought I would find myself in a church building, let alone talking to 6 missionaries.” He continued and said, “When I saw the 2 ladies (us) I had the strongest feeling in my chest that they had something to teach me and I had to know what it was.” He opened up about how he wants to change and he knows that this message that we have as missionaries will help him do that. WHAT. We had a kneeling prayer at the end and he said it. It was the most beautiful prayer ever.
PEOPLE ARE SO RECEPTIVE TO THE PROMPTINGS OF THE SPIRIT. I love being a missionary and being able to give people what they need, which is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Life is sooo good!
I hope you have the best week ever! Love you!!
Love,Hermana Whitney
We went to a service project and taught the woman (Estrella) a message!
This is Rachel. My other “twin” haha
I’ve never seen so much cookie dough in my life…