Hermana Noelle Whitney Tempe AZ Mission (Spanish) weeks 67 and 68

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! 

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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…

Hermana Noelle Whitney – Tempe AZ Mission (Spanish) weeks 65 and 66

Dec 24, 2018 at 11:10 AM

Week 65: La Navidad

Merry Christmas! I hope you have the greatest Christmas and really focus on what’s important 🙂 I’m blessed to have 2 Christmas’ on my mission! It’s the best!

I know that Jesus is the Christ and He was born so that we could live. Now during Christmas, the attention of the whole world is on Him! It’s been the greatest honor to be a representative of my Savior, Jesus Christ and bring this message of hope and joy to others.

Mosiah 3:17″And moreover, I say unto you, that there shall be no other name given nor any other way nor means whereby salvation can come unto the children of men, only in and through the name of Christ, the Lord Omnipotent”
I love you all!

Love,Hermana Whitney

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Dec 31, 2018

Week 66: FAMILY

Speaking with my family through a video call was so sweet! It was good to see and hear from them 🙂 I hope you all had a great Christmas as well!
Hermana Leavitt and I are staying together for another transfer here in Yuma and we are SO HYPED! I love that woman. She’s ending her training this coming transfer but she seems like a very experienced missionary. Her progress from the beginning of her mission and now is incredible!! She takes all the calls in English and Spanish and I stand there with a huge smile and two thumbs up. She’s a great missionary!
We found the most amazing kids ever who have the greatest desire to learn about God. It’s actually insane! The amount of kids that we’ve met that want to know more and be in accordance with God is unbelievable. We passed a few kids off to the english missionary and had the most fire lesson. We taught about the Plan of Salvation and it answered their questions about where they are going after this life and why families are so important and they loved it! Their names are Destinee, Esiquio, and Nora. What a team! They are all just neighborhood friends. They have a hot business of selling slime haha. I don’t have the pictures with me today (sorry!!) but next week I’ll send it- it’s a picture of all them holding up their flyers that they made. They all want to have their families forever and we were like, “Well let’s make it happen!” and they got sooo happy! They taught everything we taught them to their families and other friends haha they are awesome!
The entire year of 2018, I was on my mission! And I have more time to go!! I love being a missionary and love being able to recognize God’s influence in everyday life. I love bringing this message of hope and joy to those that are truly seeking it. As one of my dear previous companions once said, “There’s no such thing as a dead area. Just a dead missionary.” There are people EVERYWHERE who are diligently seeking truth, and my companions and I were led to them and are continually being led to them everyday. I love you all! Happy New Years 🙂
Love,Hermana Whitney

Hermana Noelle Whitney – Arizona Tempe Mission (Spanish) week 63 and 64

• December 10, 2018
• 
  Week 63..? : 4 Prayers and ALL Your Faith
  YOU WOULD NOTTTT BELIEVE THE MIRACLES THAT HAPPENED THIS WEEK.
  I’ll share one of them with you. One night, we were driving back to Yuma from a lesson out in Somerton and it was getting pretty late so we were most likely going to just head back home. The elders text us and say, “Hey where are you guys right now? We’re at a carne asada and we have a family here that you can teach!” We responded, “BE THERE IN 15.” MIRACULOUSLY we got there in 15 minutes, Somerton is pretty far.We arrive and there’s a group of people just hanging out with in the open garage, all eating carne asada, all super nice and awesome. The elders are there with the biggest smiles on their faces, saying that this family is SWEET. The family, Edgar and Ana are the parents, tell us to go get a plate and fill it with food. We soon sit down and start talking to everyone. The elders and us are smoothly directing the conversation to gospel things and the family follows. They want their kids to grow up having faith in God and having good moral standards. YES. PLEASE. So we teach them a few things and they like it. We schedule another visit with them and they originally said next week, but then the dad thought about it and decided to move it up to Sunday (yesterday)! So we’re like “AW SWEET!” He said that he would also make food for us again and we can have the lesson at the same time. We promised them that we would bring dessert too and they were super excited.SUNDAY ROLLS AROUND and we’re about the start our day, UNTIL WE REMEMBER THAT WE SAID WE WERE GOING TO MAKE SOMETHING BUT WE HAD LITERALLY NOTHING. Hermana Leavitt and I are like, “man they are definitely going to remember we said something about dessert though so we HAVE to make something.” We couldn’t go buy anything either because it was Sunday. We go over to our neighbors and ask all of them if they have cake or brownie mix or something and they all said no. By now, the other hermanas that live with us (Hermana Moulton and Hermana Conlee) are in it too, trying to help us out. We start opening up all the cabinets to check if we had stuff to make SOMETHING and there was nothing. So I was like, “Alright ladies, everyone close the cabinets and fridge. We are about to exercise our faith like we’ve never done before and say the strongest prayer ever!” We closed all the cabinets and went around and each one of us said a prayer for DIVINE HELP so that we would be able to find what we needed. After the prayer, we opened all the cabinets again and STARTED FINDING THINGS EVERYWHERE. None of us had a recipe so we decided to go in blind and make something from scratch. As we started making it- when I tell you that the brownie batter smelled like Betty Crocker status… IT LITERALLY SMELLED LIKE BETTY CROCKER STATUS. It was the craziest thing! We put them in the oven and they came out PERFECTTTT. Literally tastes like Betty Crocker- but better because it came straight from heaven.We bring them to the family for the lesson and they all loveddd them! It helped us to start teach the kids and extended members of their family!!! NO WONDER GOD MADE US MAKE THESE. The only thing is, Edgar and Ana asked if we could come back and teach the whole family how to make these brownies and Hermana Leavitt and I calmly look at each other for a second and then look at Edgar and Ana and say, “Yes of course!!” We dug ourselves in the most heavenly hole. But we tried writing down the recipe afterwards and we think we got it. We just have to remember that these brownies call for 4 prayers and every ounce of faith you have in your body. We had a greatttt lesson with them on the Restoration and they really enjoyed it!! GOD IS SO GOOD.#WaterIntoWine
  Life here is so beautiful! There are too many things to be joyful about that there’s no time to be sad, especially because we get to spread the message of hope to everyone, not just this Christmas season! I LOVEEE BEING A MISSIONARY.
  I hope you all have the BEST week ever!
  Love,Hermana Whitney
  
  -my “twin” Nautica 💗 every time we are in the same room, all the kids say “Nautica!! YOUR TWIN.”-we all went hiking this morning before the sun came up!- THE MIRACLE BROWNIES-Gilbert Temple 💗💗

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December 17, 2018
Week 64: BIRTHDAY SUCCESS

Thank you for all the birthday wishes! It was SUCH a beautiful day! My roommates woke up 5am in the morning and made me a cake! So cute!

We’ve been teaching our girl Maya (10 years old) and she is SO awesome! She so badly wants to follow the example of Jesus Christ and be the best person she can be. This past weekend, she was baptized and then shared her sweet testimony with everyone that came. Her grandma shared a story about Maya- the day of her baptismal interview, Maya also had a clarinet performance. She plays like every instrument but she loves the clarinet. When they found out that it was on the same day at the same time, people in Maya’s family were telling her that she needs to cancel the interview because she’s been working her hard for this performance. Maya said, “No, I’m going to cancel the performance. I need to be baptized!” She’s so young but she’s such a good example for her family and friends. We love her!
I love teaching kids and it seems like most of the kids we’ve met are wanting to strengthen their relationship with God! We went to an apartment complex that we’ve never gone to before and it’s so awesome! The people there are so ready to here the gospel and learn with the missionaries! There was this one kid with whom we had a lesson about prayer and she sincerely asked, “What do you have to say in your prayer to receive forgiveness for your mistakes?” WHAT?? LET US TELL YOU. After explaining it, she said, “I’m so excited to try it! I’ll do it today!” Hermana Leavitt and I looked at each other like, “..where in the world did you come from??” Her name is Analia. I’ve never seen a kid so excited about being cleansed from sin.
I love being a missionary!! I hope everyone is feeling the Christmas spirit! Hope you have a beautiful week!

Love, Hermana Whitney
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Maya’s baptism! Her grandpa baptized her :)- bday :)- hermana lazaro saw my dress and said, “we HAVE to take pictures! that’s a true mexican dress!” haha- we’re currently in a trio for a week! Hermana Conlee, Hermana Moulton, and I- i dont remember if i’ve ever sent the english and spanish thing to you guys but i just think it’s so funny

Hermana Noelle Whitney – Tempe Mission (Spanish) weeks 59 and 61

11/19/18 at 12:50 PM

Week 59: Miracle Video

 Puro craziness happened this whole week! We were saying, “If we survive this week, we’re making a miracle video.” It was a joke but as the week went on, it actually became a real thought haha. So my companion got a call that they needed her up in the valley all of a sudden! It was so sad because she lovesss the area and the people so much. She’s such a good missionary and she’s still so new! She and Hermana Huefner went up to the valley together and so Hermana Leavitt and I were together covering everythinggg! If you look on the map, we covered San Luis all the way to Wellton. I don’t expect you all to look that up but if you wanted to see, that’s what we had. There was so much to do everyday and there was literally no down time. But being busy is the best!
We got transfer news and Hermana Leavitt and I are actually staying together! I’ll finish training her and we’re so pumped! She’s sooo awesome! President called last night and told me, “I won’t tell you who will be living with you, but I will tell you that you will be dancing in the rain all the day long when you find out!” He leaves me on cliffhangers all the time. I got the call this morning that HERMANA MOULTON AND A NEW TRAINEE WILL BE LIVING WITH US!!! MY EXCITEMENT WILL NEVERRR GO DOWN. Hermana Moulton is the missionary that I trained and LOVEDDD. It’s going to be pura pachanga (partayyyyy)!!!
Margarita got baptized and confirmed this week! I taught her when I first got here to Yuma and she has a testimony that will never die. Her faith is the most inspiring thing. When trials come (she always has something new to worry about), she neverrrr ever doubts her faith and has zero fear when it comes to hardship. The more she listened to the missionaries and applied the teachings of Jesus Christ in her life, the more happier she felt and she now smiles all the time and laughs all the time! Wowow I love Margarita!!!
I hope you all have an awesome Thanksgiving and stay safe!! Love you all!!
Love, Hermana Whitney

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Nov 26, 2018

Week 61: A Year in the Making

I hope that everyone had the best Thanksgiving this week! The new hermanas that we are now living with got here Wednesday!! You best believe Hermana Moulton and I had the biggest reunion. Ahhh it’s so good to serve around her. She and a new missionary- Hermana Conlee came and Hermana Conlee is also lit. She’s not afraid to speak to people and that’s the best! My lovely companion- Hermana Leavitt is the best! She also is not afraid to speak. Once it’s her turn to say something, she just goes!
Thanksgiving was so beautiful! We played sports outside for hours with other missionaries and we played football with a family that we all met at the park. We ate with the Galvan Family and the Pineda Family later that night. We all went around the table and basically bore testimony of Jesus Christ and how important it is to share what we know with others so that they can also feel of this joy. The spirit was so strong! I almost cried like 5 times. I’ve improved since last year’s Thanksgiving and finished my entire Thanksgiving plate. #progressThrowback to last year’s Thanksgiving prayer: “Heavenly Father, if you find a place to put it, I will eat it.” I’ve made a lot of improvement since then.
We have been doing pass-off lessons with the new hermanas. (pass-off is just that the new hermanas join a lesson and we pass our people that we’re teaching off to them so it’s a smooth transition) We went by Octavio and had a pass off lesson with him. He’s sooo prepared and he came to church yesterday and really liked it! He wants to be baptized so badly AND HE WILLLL very soon! It’s been difficult getting to meet with him because of his busy schedule but when we came by, his dad said, “Yeah I see him reading that Book of Mormon every night outside after work.” WHAT. wowow Octavio is the greatest. The hermanas are going to take the besttt care of him! I have no doubt.
I hope you all have the greatest week!
Love,Hermana Whitney 
– Thanksgiving morning with the missionaries in Yuma! With Hermana Moulton and I there- we wouldn’t dare leave until we played Ultimate Frisbee.- Margarita’s baptism! We visited her this week and she is the most SMILEY and LAUGHY person now! Life is sooo good for her.-Thanksgiving dinner 💛🔥-President Colvin (President of YSA branch) and I are besties. He let me have his eggnog 💛-President Colvin is fighting cancer but is also helping another young kid fight cancer too. We made this “Never- give up the fight” book for him. Every page says “never” and it’s sooo beautiful.

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Hermana Noelle Whitney – Tempe AZ Mission -Spanish Weeks 57 and 58

Week 57: NY in AZ??

Oct 29 at 1:47 PM

BEFORE I SAY ANYTHING, I NEED TO TELL YOU WHAT HAPPENED THIS MORNING!!

Mondays are our Preparation Days, so we shop for food, clean our apartment, was our car and clothes, you take care of everything that needs to be handled, and all that jazz. Even though we don’t go out to teach set lessons,, WE DO NOT STOP LOOKING FOR PEOPLE TO TEACH. As you are all probably aware, I don’t have my drivers license. And my mission president has been telling me for the longest time that I need to get one because there aren’t enough Spanish sister missionaries that drive. So this morning, we were finally able to go to the DMV! We got permission to go right when we woke up, so we were out the door by 6:45am when the DMV opened at 7:30am. You gotta be early, or you’re late, ESPECIALLY AT THE DMV. So we sat outside and waited for it to open and we started talking to the guy next to us. It so HAPPENS to be that he’s from New York too!! WHAT?? From Queens! He looked at me and said, “What are you doing here?” And I said, “What are YOU doing here??” We were so blown away and laughed for a while and we got to know each other! His name is Byron. The “what are you doing here in Yuma?” question is prime for explaining your purpose as missionaries and why you are there. So we started talking about gospel things and how it related to him in his life right now. He’s going into nursing and goes to school in Manhattan. Afterwards, we split and he went to get his title renewed or something, BUT AFTER THAT HE CAME BACK AND CONTINUED THE CONVO. So I’m actually in a trio, so when I had to leave to take my test, my 2 other companions were talking to him. It turns out that he’s in a PERFECT position in his life to receive the gospel. One of his big worries was that he said he thought he’d definitely go to hell, without question. My companions shared Alma 36 (please read it if you don’t know what it is)- it’s basically the account of a super wicked guy who finds forgiveness and joy through accepting Jesus Christ. It’s awesome. We gave him a Book of Mormon and was SOOO grateful to have met us. He gave us his contact information and said he wants to go to church and meet with the missionaries in NY!! He has a flight back to NY tonight. HOW PERFECT. I’m still sooo hype about this. AND I PASSED MY TEST!!! WOOHOOOO! Honestly, I could’ve failed and still been happy about Byron. But I’m really grateful that God helped me pass haha!

We celebrated with Dunkin Donuts and when we walked it was a huge flashback to NY too. The smell of coffee and donuts is what home smells like haha! We are about to have the best week of our lives. What a good P-Day.

On another note, earlier this week, we had Zone Conference and there was a quote that said, “Do not resist God’s attempts to make you divine.” I love that! I know that every one of us are capable of enduring trials WITH Jesus Christ. And I totally know that Jesus Christ is in every little detail of our lives and He wants to help us become the people we are meant to be.

I love you all! I hope you have the greatest week!!

Love,

Hermana Whitney

Week 58: Winner

Nov 5 at 11:06 AM

There are so many things to look forward to this week! Elder Pieper from the Seventy is coming down to speak to us and then he’s staying and conducting the Mission Leadership Council so I’ll be able to hear from him TWICE!! I’m going to take so many notes! I’ve been reading his past talks and they are all really inspired.

On Saturday, we had a Cultural Fiesta and there were at least 800 people there! It was so awesome to see different traditional dances from different countries! There was a lot of Mexican traditional dances which were BEAUTIFUL. I feel like I need at least 10 Mexican dresses in my wardrobe now. There was also Hawaiian dances and a performance from the PHILIPPINES! It was so awesome. We sang a classic Mexican song named Cielito Lindo. Sooo pretty. A lot of the people we are teaching LOVED it! They thought it was so beautiful that we embrace all people and cultures.

We met miracle people! There’s an area that we cover called The Foothills and it’s pretty far out there and we have limited miles so we don’t go out there very often but we try out best. A person that we are teaching gave us the information to her friend because he wanted to start learning about the gospel too! Woohooo!! So we call her friend, Alfredo, and set up an appointment. We get to the appointment and the first thing he says is, “When I first saw you missionaries (a while ago), I got this overwhelming feeling of excitement, nervousness, and happiness. I don’t know why but I know that there was something I need to learn from you.” WHAT. I ALMOST COLLAPSED FROM JOY. He was sooo attentive the whole lesson and accepted everything, like it just made sense to him. We’re meeting again this week!! YAYYY ALFREDO.

Since we were already in the Foothills, we stopped by this one another person named Araseli. And she lives FARRRR. I heard that missionaries have tried stopping by before but I didn’t hear what happened. We make the drive all the way there and it’s a big trailer park. We look at the address and there’s no lot number! No wonder I never heard what happened because NOTHING happened, they never found her lot number. My companion, Hermana Palmer and I look at each other and say, “Well God led us here for some reason.” We said a prayer in the car, asking God if He could lead us to the people who need us. So we get out and start knocking doors. First house, no answer. The second house, a woman comes to the door and we greet each other and she says her name is Araseli. WHAT. We asked for her last name AND IT MATCHED THE RECORD WE HAD. WE FOUND HERRRRR!!! STRAIGHT MIRACLE. We were obviously sooooo happy that we found her that she got so excited, came out of her house, shut the door behind her and was like,”WHAT? WHAT?? WHAT HAPPENED???” with a huge smile on her face hahaha like she won something! We explain who we are and that we received information that you wanted to meet with missionaries and she was soooo happy! This is a prime time for her to receive the gospel in her life and she’s sooo willing to meet with us and come to church and the activities! SO AWESOME.

Life is soo good out here in Yuma! I hope you have the greatest week!

Love,

Hermana Whitney

-all the missionaries in Yuma! We’re the smallest zone in the mission but there’s awesomeeeee missionaries down here!

– the Minnie mouse one is from the trunk or treat that we had! Shoutout to elder hangemeyer in the back

– cultural fiesta 💕💕💕💕💕💕

 

 

 

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https://s.yimg.com/rq/darla/3-4-3/html/r-sf.html

Hermana Noelle Whitney – Tempe AZ Mission (Spanish) weeks 55 and 56

Week 55: People Everywhere!

Oct 15 at 3:32 PM

(Disclaimer: I realized I spelled “Davao” wrong in my last email.. I really do know how to spell, I was just so excited I couldn’t focus.)

So I am still here in Yuma, but I switched areas and I am now in a new area with my trainee! The people that we have been meeting are the sweetest! We have been running into people that are looking for a better life and looking for a church to go to and we’ve been talking to a ton of kids. Everyone hangs outside now because it’s about 70-80 degrees now so we’re able to talk to everyone! How perfect!! We met this one beautiful family with 6 kids from El Salvador. The mom was outside sweeping when we started talking to her and her kids. Her kids all want to learn more about God and Jesus Christ and we could tell that the mom was super impressed by her kids. That definitely softened her heart to learn more about our message!

Every time we find somebody to teach, it just confirms to me how true this message is! I know that tons of people are searching for happiness and trying to find refuge from all the crazy things that happen in their lives. And every time we find someone like that, I just know without a doubt that we were guided to that person to help them on their way! There are no exceptions! Everyone, if they allow it, can be blessed from hearing this message and applying what they learn into their lives. It’s a heavenly promise!!

I hope you have the best week!!

Love,

Hermana Whitney

– The Yuma Zone hiked Telegraph Pass again!

– a little girl that we visit a lot (recently baptized) drew this for me! 💕 my hair is on point

– there’s nowhere I could find a Philippines flag but I wanted one because of the temple that is going to be built there!! Still so happy!

Week 56: Sweet Alfonsito

Oct 22 at 12:37 PM

TEACHING FAMILIES IS THE BESTTT. We met so many families to teach this week and it’s such a blessing to be able to help them come closer to having an eternal family.

One family we are teaching is so fantastic. It’s the mom (Myriam), the daughter (America), and the son (Alfonsito). They are sooo receptive to the things that we teach and embrace the spirit that’s present. We first met Alfonsito playing outside and we started talking to him and his friends. We came back the next day and met the rest of his family! They had us come in their home and they are sat down and listened superrr intently. They had a lot of good questions and comments. We gave them a spanish Restoration pamphlet to read before our next visit. We come back a few days later for our visit and Myriam tells me that Alfonsito took the pamphlet to school and read it there! He’s 10 years old. But Myriam was just so surprised because Alfonsito HATES reading with a burning passion and can’t read well, if at all, in Spanish. BUT HE READ THE PAMPHLET. Everyone’s jaw was dropped. They are such an awesome family! They love meeting with us and want to come closer to Jesus Christ and they KNOW that this will bless them individually and as a family!

Octavio and his family are another family we met this week. Octavio is the son, he’s 21, and is super engaged in our visits. We got the impression that he knew a lot about God and Jesus Christ because the first night we met him, he agreed with everything of what we testified. We came back last night and he had a TON of sincere questions about God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost. He took the Restoration pamphlet (which he read!!) and started writing down notes so he could study them later. He was sooo happy with the new information that he received and said, “Sorry I asked so many questions, but this is all new information that I have to know!” YEAH IT IS. He’s so awesome!!

Miracles happen every single day and God never ceases to amaze me! I hope you have the best week!

Love,

Hermana Whitney

-a member, Hermano Garnica, bought us Mexican dresses! MY HEART MELTED. Once I put it on, I’m never taking it off.

-there’s a lady named Gloria that we pass by every morning when we go running in the morning and we helped her with her garden this week 💕 she gave us those cookies in return!

Hermana Noelle Whitney – Tempe AZ Mission (Spanish) weeks 53 and 54

Week 53: “You don’t know the good you do.”

Oct 1 at 12:12 PM

President Christensen said, “Don’t ever come home thinking, ‘that was a wasted day’. You don’t know the good you do.”

One of my favorite things of all time is bearing testimony!! I loveee sharing my testimony with anyone who will listen and I love helping others develop their own. It’s so awesome! For some reason, this week was a little tougher than the past weeks. We talked to a ton of people but we couldn’t seem to get a second visit with them. But the whole week, I kept what President Christensen said in my head. And because of that, even though we weren’t able to get second visits with a lot of the people we spoke to, we were able to still see a ton of miracles! But they didn’t come in the way we expected them too at all.

Quick backstory: before I was on my mission, missionaries in my area now found someone named Alex and he progressed in the gospel really well! He then went on a backpacking trip for a really long time and wouldn’t be anywhere near a signal. Between the time of him leaving and then not having signal, the missionaries taught him lessons through email and facebook. AND THEN OUT OF NOWHERE, ABOUT A YEAR LATER, we get a text asking if this number still worked because he has received signal now and is coming back down to Yuma! Miraculously, Hermana Huefner was one of the 2 companions that taught him through facebook so she knew who he was!! He wants to continue progressing in the gospel here in Yuma!! We totally did nottt see that coming. What a blessing!

There were other super random miracles like that this week that came straight from heaven. Aaand we were able to share our testimonies of this joyful message to sooo many people! That is a blessing in itself. Even when it can seem that what you are doing isn’t making much of a difference, I promise you that it does! You are impacting the lives of so many! And God is so aware of where you are at in your life right now. Heavenly Father is so generous with His love and wants everyone to be able to receive the blessings of the gospel!

I hope you have the best week of your life! 🙂

Love,

Hermana Whitney

Week 54: DAVAO CITY!?!

Oct 8 at 5:30 PM

If you just happen to miss the most amazing event, go on lds.org and catch up on General Conference! I had the most warm, comforting feeling when I watched it. I know the Heavenly Father is helping us better ourselves everyday! And now there’s a new temple being built in DAVAO CITY, PHILIPPINES. When I heard that, I was in the chapel and I screamed so loudly and scared everyone else who was watching it haha oh well. Shoutout to all my family in the Davao!! They are going to be immensely blessed!!! Temples are truly a heaven on earth.

It has been super crazy here. One sister missionary finished her mission and so I have been in a trio. It’s awesome though! A little hard just because we have 2 areas to take care of but there’s a lot of blessings that come from it so no complaints 🙂

Transfers are here again! The time went by so fast. President Christensen called me and told me that I’m training again! I’m super excited!! I know that her and I will be able to learn a lot of each other.

(I’ll have to send all my photos next week… it’s not working. Sorry!)

I love you all! I hope you have the best week!

Love,

Hermana Whitney

Hermana Noelle Whitney – Tempe AZ Mission (Spanish) week 52

Week 52: SO MUCH JOY

September 24 at 1:06 PM

Life is toooo good in Yuma! I’m loving every second I have here to share my testimony and teach the gospel to anyone and everyone who we meet! Time is so precious!

I don’t think I’ve mentioned Alan before, but he’s the best person everrr! He’s a convert of about 3 years. He fell away for a little bit but then came back fairly recently and has been awesome ever since! He has one of the strongest testimonies I’ve ever seen! The hard thing is that he’s deaf there’s no one to communicate with them because no one knows ASL here. But my companion, Hermana Huefner knows it! She’s been here for almost 6 months and she learned everything from Alan! So I’m determined to learn ASL too! Alan FINALLY gave me a sign name too! I’ve been trying to communicate with him since I’ve been here and I’m slowly understanding more and more!

Since he can’t speak with words, he is a huge example to me that you can share the gospel without saying anything. Just by spending time with him, you can tell that he is a disciple of Christ just by his actions.

Sloane was baptized this week!! She is sooo cool! I’ve loved seeing her testimony grow every time we come over for a visit and teach her. Our first visit with her was just 2 weeks ago! She shared her testimony with everyone at her baptism and everyone had their jaw dropppedddd. She is just sooo prepared and excited for what is to come after her baptism. She has seen so many miracles and blessings come into her life the minute she started learning about Jesus Christ and his complete gospel.

I cannot say it enough, I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY! It has brought me so much joy to see how this message brings so much peace and hope into the lives of others. Life isn’t supposed to become super easy after you accept Christ into your life, but rather life becomes much better understood. You can be happy, especially in the hardest of times. And I truly do know this because I’ve read and am still reading the Book of Mormon! It has changed my life for the better! I encourage you to start reading it if you haven’t yet! I promise you there are blessing to come.

I love you!! I hope you have the best week!

Love,

Hermana Whitney

 

 

 

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Hermana Noelle Whitney – Tempe AZ Mission (Spanish) week 51

Week 51: I LOVE MY CALLING

September 17, 2018

My mission is a complete technology mission and it is sooo awesome because when schedules get tight, we are able to video call the people we are teaching and have a lesson that way! Face to face is always the better option but video calling is definitely an advantage we have!

We had a couple video calls this week! One with Sloane and the other with Mike.

Sloane is awesome! She is progressing so fast and she loves it! Every time we have a lesson with her, she takes notes and then studies them when we are gone. Also, we loveee family history and something amazing that she told us was that a couple weeks before she met us, she had the strongest feeling to get all the information she could concerning her ancestors (birth dates, death dates, other info) but she didn’t know why! She had the feeling to show us all the information she had about them and when we told her about family history and taught the Plan of Salvation, she was SOOOO HAPPY!! She said, “So THAT’S why I wrote this all down! I’ve never been interested in knowing more about my family until I got that impression.” And some of the people from church went to the San Diego Temple and she went too just to go to the Visitors Center and take pictures outside! She’s amazing.

Mike is also another super cool guy! He’s 21 years old and has a ton of questions about religion. We gave him The Book of Mormon and asked him to read a specific part. When we followed up with him, he loved the part we gave him and he totally related it to his life! Then he told us that he went ahead and started reading from the beginning of the book. This is actually amazing because he has dyslexia and doesn’t super like reading but he is sooo interested in the Book of Mormon! (THE BOOK OF MORMON IS SOOOO AWESOME. It has answered so many of his questions and I know it will answer the rest of them!!) AND THENNN, in the middle of our lesson, he said, “Before I met you both, I was a true believer in God but I didn’t believe in Jesus Christ. But now I’m committed to giving Christ a 100% chance! I’m going to give Him a try!” He didn’t drink Saturday night either because he wanted to be completely sober for Sunday morning church!! And he brought his aunt to church with him because he knew that she would really enjoy it! He is sooo awesome!!!

It’s the craziest thing to be a missionary because complete strangers open up to you about things they would never tell anyone else. It’s like the automatically trust you and you automatically love them! And I totally know people react that way because they feel safe when they are talking to us and they can feel that we want to help them be happy and have peace in their lives! MISSIONS ARE THE BEST AND I LOVEEEE BEING A MISSIONARY!!

I hope you have the best week of your life!!

Love,

Hermana Whitney

-We hiked the besttt hike ever this morning! It’s been too long.

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Hermana Noelle Whitney – Tempe AZ Mission (Spanish) weeks 41-50

Week 41: what heat?

Jul 9 at 12:15 PM

I went on so many exchanges this week and it was the greatest thing ever!

I went to a biking area on probably the hottest day I’ve ever seen but it was so much fun! It was around 115 degrees. I was with Sister Britsch! She’s an awesome missionary and the time together went by so fast! One of the miracles that happened when we were together was we were talking to a bunch of different people and one door that we knocked let us in right away, as if she knew us beforehand. She later told us that her own boys went on missions too and that she had some great memories there. She doesn’t go to church anymore, BUT we shared a scripture from the Book of Mormon and left her with her own Book of Mormon and she said that she would start reading it again! blessings.

And at the end of the day, (her area is english), we found a spanish speaker and he was SO happy to see us and said that he needed a confirmation that God was trying to reach out to him in his time of need. His name is Ernesto! He couldn’t stop smiling and saying “amen” and “hallelujah”. So cute!

We have been finding so many people to teach and it is so amazing to see how much we are guided throughout our day. I’ve said it before in another email but I love the phrase, “God directs moving feet.” Even though it’s incredibly hot outside, we honestly barely feel the heat on us. It’s hot but I just know that God is protecting us from what could be worse. AND there have been heavy clouds lately… so it might rain again! blessings.

ALSOOO I DON’T HAVE THE PICTURE WITH ME BUT I SAW MY TRAINER! HERMANA GILMAN!! I haven’t seen in her 6 months so you can only imagine how hard I cried and how much we had to catch each other up on. A lot happens in 6 weeks, so 6 months is forever! She goes home in less than 2 weeks! Crazyyy!

God is sooooo goooddddd. And life is getting better all the time!

Love,

Hermana Whitney

-Hermana Moulton and I 💜

-The Book of Mormon is bestttt! (it’s super good in Spanish too 💜)

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Week 42: The Good South Phoenix!

Jul 23 at 11:56 AM

Remember when I was in Phoenix and I was teaching someone GOLDEN named Fanni?? WELL SHE GOT BAPTIZED THIS WEEK AND IT WAS AMAZING!! I was able to go and it was so great to be back. I’ll send pictures but can I just say, that her makeup didn’t move at all!! She went into the water and came out of the water looking like a model. WOW she’s the most amazing person ever and her testimony is as strong as BRICK. She’s so solid! My bishop there loved doing musical numbers together and so when he saw me, the first thing he asked was, “Are you ready to sing??” We sang Joseph Smith’s First Prayer. But the spirit was sooo strong there and Fanni is going to be such a beautiful addition to the ward! Hermana Moulton and I were able to talk to her husband Gilberto and he said that he wants to talk to God but he feels that God doesn’t want to listen. He said that Fanni makes them pray together sometimes but he never says the prayer. We testified that our Heavenly Father is so eager to listen to his prayer and even more eager to bless him with His love and comfort. He said he would try to pray that night!

We have this one family in our ward that is less-active and we have been trying to meet with them for the longest time! Out of the 9 kids, there’s like 6 of them who are between 1-13 years old. They are the cutest family too! We stopped by this week and talked to the 13 year old and he talked about how much he LOVES reading and told us he was on the “Battle of the Books” team in school. Basically, you read a book, and your team gets quizzed on how much you know. So we decided to have a Battle of the Books but with the Book of Mormon! They were sooo down! We gave them the first chapter in the book to read and they needed to prepare questions. We came back a few days later for the battle and they read the chapter 6 times so they could make really good questions! The younger kids were playing too and their questions were SO GOOD. What smart kids!! We had a lesson throughout the battle too and whenever they got a question wrong, we would look up the answer in the chapter. They were having the time of their lives! Tonight, we’re having a Battle with chapter 2!

Also, we had dinner with a family from Fiji from the English area and they have us lava-lavas! Hermana Moulton and I have been wearing them in the house when we’re lounging haha SO COMFORTABLE.

I hope you have a great week! I love you all!

Love,

Hermana Whitney

-Fanni’s Baptism! (ft. Kíque)

-Battle of the Book of Mormon with the Rosales Family!

-when we got our lava-lavas!

-a solid candid of what taking pictures looks like with Hermana Moulton and I hahaha she’s gets so frustrated with me lol we promise we’re best friends!

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Week 43: ON A SILVER PLATTER

J

ul 23 at 1:26 PM

We got the best news last week that Hermana Moulton and I are staying together for another transfer!! Every time transfers come around, I can’t stop crying whenever it’s brought up in conversation because every companion that I’ve had, I’ve just LOVEEDDDD so much. Change is always good but we were really praying that we would stay together for one more! AND WE AREEEE.

Over a week ago we found this super golden person named Vianey. She was so receptive and was so excited for our second visit when we would come back! She lives in this crazy complicated apartment complex and after our awesome first contact/lesson with her, we were so excited that we forgot to write down the apartment number… woops. We came back the day of our appointment with her and we COULD NOTTT find her apartment! We tried contacting the number she gave us but we wrote in down wrong. We were soo sad! We went back everyday looking for her but nothing. We knocked so many doors trying to find her. Hermana Moulton had the idea of getting a map from the Complex Office and once we got one, we went back into the car, said a prayer for guidance, and started crossing off the apartments that we knew were not hers. We tried remembering everything that we could about where is might be. We went from about 80 apartments to 16! Then we started knocking those 16. (We found some new people to teach along the way!)

 There were other places where we had to be so we were about to rap it up once we had only a couple left. We stop and look at the map for a little while to figure out where we are. While I’m looking at the map, Hermana Moulton is staring at this one family- a dad and 2 kids. This family passes right by us and I look at Hermana Moulton’s face and her jaw is DROPPED. She looks at me and whispers, “That’s Vianey’s kids!!” I look at the family and the little baby is staring at us. We were trying to look natural while we were seeing what apartment they were going into. AND IT WAS ONE OF THE APARTMENTS WE CIRLCED- RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ENTIRE COMPLEX. Literally it was like a choir was singing in both of our heads as we’re staying at the family and the map hahahaah THE GREATEST THING EVERRRRR. We wait a few minutes and then we knock on the door. Vianey was at work but her husband was so kind and gave us Vianey’s correct number and set up an appointment with her. He told us that Vianey was really excited to meet with us but we never came!

 Fast forward a few days and we met Vianey and she tells us that she has been waiting for daysss to see us again and was so excited to tell us that she read the Book of Mormon Introduction and the testimonies in the beginning of the book! We taught her the Restoration lesson and she said, “Thank goodness God and Jesus Christ appeared to Joseph Smith!” WHAATTTTT?!?! (I literally have the biggest smile on my face while typing this). She’s sooo awesome!!! Can’t wait for our next lesson this week!

I hope you have a great week! Love you all!

Love,

Hermana Whitney

1. JAYCEE IS THE SWEETEST BOY. We taught him and he’s going to be baptized! Cute boy!

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Week 44: Ciudad de Taco

Jul 30 at 11:33 AM

We had a leadership meeting earlier this week and someone said, “Our service is to love people. That’s what we do.” There are so many things that Hermana Moulton and I have to get done, and we always have places to go and people to see. But what it boils down to is loving people. And it’s the best thing I could ever be doing with my time!! We see so many people around us and it’s just amazing to think that they all have their own trials and hardships in life, but the message that we bring to those people is a message of hope! And it’s the BEST.

We have a friend that owns a taco shop in her house, and the backyard is the restaurant. It’s called Ciudad de Taco (Taco City) and it’s sooo good. We went by earlier and helped her prepare some of the food and it was so fun! Hermana Moulton and I have been learning so much about Mexican food and how to make it. We have a recipe book that we add to almost everyday. It’s pure gold. AND Ciudad de Taco is a perfect place to go find people to teach! It’s open from 6:30pm-1am and everyone there is super chill and enjoys everyone’s company. So Hermana Moulton and I went and we sat next to this one couple and as the conversation went on, they told us how they have met with missionaries before! And the more we spoke about that, it turns out that the wife, Lourdes, is the aunt of someone else that we are teaching, Armando! And he loves the church! She expressed how she wants to learn more about it. We have an appointment with her this Tuesday!

Life is good. Tacos are amazing. And Ciudad de Taco is going to see us almost every week.

I hope you have a great day!

Love,

Hermana Whitney

▪we had to take advantage of the colorful walls

▪when your companion takes hide and seek too seriously

▪hermana Moulton and hermana Chavez! Hermana Chavez finished her mission but came to visit

▪Jaycee’ s baptism

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Week 45: Roy is Straight Gold

Aug 6 at 12:39 PM

There were so many miracles this week but so little time to share them all haha but I’ve mentioned Roy before, and he’s been doing SSOOO GOOOD.

We have been teaching Roy for about a month now and he has undergone one of the biggest turnarounds I have ever seen! When we first met him, we was so paranoid and scared of everything and everyone. The more we started teaching him, the less he seemed to be afraid. Before, he kind of knew that there was a God, but didn’t give it much thought. Now, a month later, after meeting with him a couple times every week, he absolutely knows that there is a God, and that God is our Loving Heavenly Father! AND he has wayyy more faith than fear now!! He has been applying the things he’s learned in our lessons into his life and has a completely different outlook now! We know that he has made all these changes because of the Spirit he feels in our lessons! LIFE IS SOOO GOOD. And he’s been reading the Book of Mormon too!! He said it was pretty hard for him to understand, just until this past week- he was able to understand it and loveeee itttt!! Hermana Moulton and I could NOTTTT stop smiling! It was incredible!!

I’m loving every second of my mission!! Something that my president told us was, “Don’t live beneath what you are worthy to receive through prayer. But your prays have the be sincere.” And making our prayers in our companionship more sincere has brought even more miracles!

I hope you have the besttt week!!

Love,

Hermana Whitney

– tajin and chamoy on sweet things are the best

– there was this super cute children’s book that was in spanish and english and we were super tempted to ask to bring it home but we didn’t… 😦

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Week 46: missionary life is beautiful!

Aug 13 at 2:14 PM

Monsoon season is sooo beautiful! At least I think it’s really cool. There’s a dust storm nearly everyday and then it’s followed up heavy rain. And the lightening and thunderstorms are just like the ones from home. I haven’t heard thunder for almost a year!

Life is good here in Chandler! Earlier this week, we had a lesson with Roy and he has always had so many questions but this was the first time when we got negative feedback from him. We spoke about tithing and he was really confused. We did all we could to teach and testify with the spirit but he wouldn’t allow himself to accept it. So we were super nervous about our next lesson because we weren’t sure how it would go but we received guidance to have a lesson on personal revelation. Let me tell you… the spirit was soo strong in our lesson and he knew that he had to take his questions and concerns to the God. He was calm and he felt that what we were teaching was correct. The scriptures tell us so many times to “ask, seek, and knock”, if we have any questions, God is so willing and eager to help us understand. God is so good!

We taught this awesome guy named Ernesto! He has family members who go to our ward but he himself isn’t a member. But he got this feeling that he should take the lessons and learn more for himself. And so we were able to meet with him and he loves it. We only taught him for 2 weeks because he’s returning to Mexico this week. He comes every month. So the missionaries in Mexico and we will be tag team teaching him haha. He already has the plan to be baptized too. He’s awesome!

We also spoke to someone this week named Sarahi. Our 5 minute contact with her started out as, “I stay away from anything about religion.” to “You can come back on Tuesday!” The Lord has really prepared these people in Chandler and we just have to be obedient and love the people and miracles are brought to pass.

I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY.

Love,

Hermana Whitney

▪Ernesto!

▪We were caught in a storm (this was taken after it died down) but we couldn’t find I place to hide under hahah this was the best thing we could find

▪aftermath of monsoons

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Week 47: Prayers Answered!

Aug 20 at 12:10 PM

We met the cutest 9 year old whose name is Frania! She comes from a really unstable family and basically roams the street by herself. She has the biggest personality and lovessss talking. We spoke to her this week about prayer and she said that she doesn’t pray because of all the things she has to do- she said, “Well I have to eat… and sometimes do my homework and by that time I’m too tired so I just sleep.” hahah so cute. She said that she was having a hard time falling asleep because she doesn’t like the dark and when she does fall asleep, she wakes up from bad dreams. We told her that praying before she goes to sleep will help with all of that and so she said we could pray. The next day, the bishop’s family picked her up for church and picked up Camry too because he lives in the same trailer park as Frania!! You should’ve seen the look on her face when she saw us at church- We’ve never seen someone more excited to see us in our lives hahah she had the BIGGEST smile on her face and was waving soo fast with both hands, she nearly jumped out of her chair! She told us she was immediately able to fall asleep after we left (usually she falls asleep at 1am, but she fell asleep at 8pm!!) and she had NOOO BAD DREAMS. She was soo happy!! She’s going to start saying her own prayers.

There’s a family in our ward who don’t have very much. But they have some of the strongest testimonies. We saw them in Walmart last week and they invited us over for pie, cake, and flan because it was their son’s birthday! We came and they gave us a full dinner and then all 3 desserts. They made me eat like 4 pieces of flan after the mountain of food they gave us and Hermana Moulton and I almost passed out hahah they are the most giving family. The mom asked us if we needed toothepaste out of the blue. And we said we’re okay but thanked her. Then the dad and the mom were both insisting and the kids said that their mom coupons. You know those extreme couponers who purchase like $600 at the store but only pay like $2.50? THAT’S THIS FAMILY. The mom is extremeee. They literally gave us 2 things of laundry detergent, 2 toothepaste, 2 toothebrushes- the electric kind, shampoo and conditioner, and a BUNCH of other things. And then they just asked us to do one thing- to not tell anyone what they did.

They are such a good example to me because they are just sooo humble and they do so much for others but don’t want any credit or spotlight. The Castellanos family has a special place in my heart. We’re going by tonight for a Family Home Evening!

I hope you all have the bestttt week!! God listens to prayers and then answers them. (and i actually forgot to buy toothepaste again so that was a blessing).

Love,

Hermana Whitney

▪almost every weekend we go to this taco restaurant in the backyard of someone’s home and teach whoever is at the table haha the food is AMAZING- this week we got something called Lorenza and i was about to order like 5 more but decided against it.

▪Hermana Moulton and I

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Week 48:

Aug 27 at 12:43 PM

okaaayyy so im just sending this to the fam because i ran out of time to do everything else but ill send this to everyone else next week . love youuuuuu

“We got transfer calls and President told me that I’m leaving Chandler and Hermana Moulton is training!! She just got out of training too hahah she’s going to be the besttt trainer. It’s super bittersweet with the changes but there’s always so much more that we have to learn and so many more people to love. Hermana Moulton and I will have one more good cry and then we’ll be good haha! The people of Chandler are so precious! (I wasn’t told where I was going yet so I’ll keep you posted 🙂 )

We cover a crazy big area but most of the people that we visit are in the northern part of our area. This past week we decided to go down south because we had a few people down there that we felt we needed to see. The south is sooo different from the north! They are both beautiful but very different. The south has a lot more space and fields and it’s pretty quiet compared to DownTown Chandler. The person we went to go visit was named Jesus. Other missionaries sent us his information and said that’s he’s interested. The house is in the only house on a hugeee corn field and is super run down and old. In the beginning, Hermana Moulton and I were like, “Who in the world found this house??” We knocked in the front and in the back of the house and all of a sudden, we both got the most calm feeling. The Spirit was sooo strong there! The run down house immediately became the most beautiful house we have ever seen haha it was the weirdest thing. There was no answer so we are going back tomorrow! But good things are coming!”

(Noelle forgot to sign off LOL)

Week 49: i can see mexico

Sep 3 at 12:53 PM

(I can send this again next week to everyone lol I’m so behind. But love you all. Share it if you want)

My time is Chandler/SanTan ran out 😦 it was sooo much fun! The people there are all gems. Hermana Moulton and I were able to help a lot of people find happiness and peace, and we were definitely guided by the Spirit to where we should go, the people we should talk to, the words we should say, and the scriptures we should share and we saw so many miracles everyday. We were humbled every time we saw blessings that came from doing the Lord’s work! And Hermana Moulton and I worked so well together! And we learned a lottt from one another. Almost every contact we made with someone, they would ask “are you two best friends? you seem like best friends.” YEAH WE ARE becuase this gospel makes us sooo happy! Man, I love Hermana Moulton! We don’t know how to express how much love we have for one another or the missionary work but she’s one of the best missionaries ever. She stayed in Chandler/SanTan and now training! And I am now in the holy land of YUMA. I live like 10 min away from Mexico haha it’s awesome!!

Yuma is beautiful! My companion is Hermana Huefner (pronounced hufner) and she’s soo cute and really hard working so great things are coming! We serve in 2 branches: a Spanish branch (Rio Colorado Branch) and an english YSA branch. It’s so awesome! The Spanish branch needs a piano player so my companion and I will be switching every week to play for them.

The people here are awesome. We have a car but we use our bikes a lot. WHICH IS THE BEST. We found this one guy named Francisco and he’s sooo receptive to the spirit. He loves what we’ve taught him. We’ve met him 3 days in a row- all awesome lessons. We shared Moroni 10:4-5 with him from the Book of Mormon which basically says once you’ve learned these things, ask God to know of its true or not and if you really want to know and have a true desire to know, then you will receive an answer from the Holy Ghost. Once we read that, he said “woah… i feel really weird. I don’t know what this is.” Then my comp asked if it’s peace or joy that he’s feeling and he started crying and nodded yes.

There are sooooo many people looking for the truth! They are searching to feel that peace and joy! We were blessed to be able to find him 🙂 I’ll keep you updated on our sweet Francisco 🙂

Love you all! Go out and have the best day of your life.

Love,

Hermana Whitney

-Enedina surprised us with enchiladas 💜 she says she’s the best cook in Mexico AND America… okay Enedina hahah but it was super good.

-all the greenery is a beautifully long story that i will tell next week because I forgot to add it here… for now, enjoy the picture:)

– the honey is someone we stopped by to contact and he ended up being a member of the church haha we sang “Called to Serve” in Spanish on the side of the road hahaha so cool he didn’t know the words so he pulled out his phone and read it, squinting and conducting  the song with his hand at the same time hahah I was busy laughing he was really hype

– hna Britsch, me, Hna Moulton, and sis cruz 💜

– my Yuma roomies, Palmer, Pratt, me, Huefner 💜

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Week 50: yumannsss

Sep 10 at 1:24 PM

YUMA IS THE LITTEST AREA EVERRRR. There’s only 16 missionaries in this zone (that’s sooo small compared to all the other zones) and so we’re all so close! Seriously miracles are just raininggg down on Yuma. It’s so awesome!

My companion, Hermana Huefner, and I are both Sister Training Leaders and so together we basically take care of all the sister missionaries in our zone. We had a Mission Leadership Council this week up in Tempe (like 4 hours away) so we and 2 other elders in leadership drove up and we stayed at the mission home with President and Sister Christensen for the night! The 6 of us spoke for a while about gospel things and everything that was said was a testimony to me that missionary work is the mostttt beautiful work there is. We spoke about all the miracles that we’ve seen and how involved the Lord is in His work. It’s awesome!

HUGE MIRACLE:

There is a member in one of our branches that brought a friend to church! Her name is Sloane. She had attended a different church when she was younger that is sooo ready to learn about the gospel and is super excited to read the Book of Mormon! We had our first lesson with her on Saturday AND SHE IS THE GREATTESTTTT PERSON EVERRRR. She read and studied the reading that we gave her from the Book of Mormon and then she took notes on her own and then during the lesson to make sure she understood everything. She said, “What you gave me to read reminded me of what Paul said in the Bible – 2 Corinthians. And that made me think, ‘ohh wow! this teaches the same things! it must be true!'” And on the top of her page of notes she wrote, “CONFIRMATIONS OF TRUTH” I was sooo happy when she was talking to us! Hermana Huefner can testify, I had energy to run a marathon!! It was the most amazing thing! We had a plan set to teach something, but then we both got the feeling to change our plans. The Spirit was totallyyyy there and we all felt it. She opened up to us and when we invited her to be baptized she literally said, “I’ve waited 22 years for this, I don’t want to wait any longer!” SHE’S GETTING BAPTIZED IN 2 WEEKS.

That was only one of the miracles that have happened this week. God is sooo good!!!

I hope you have the best week of your life!!

Love,

Hermana Whitney

– We took a selfie with President and Sister Christensen! Love them!

– Sloane made us “Levels of Pain” cookies haha she’s in nursing school and had just come back from a nursing convention.

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