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