Feliz Navidad !!! (Danielle)

So this week has been probably the craziest weeks of my mission.   😦 It has been seriously a roller coaster of emotions.   My companion went home because her mom is really sick and doesn’t have that much time to live.   It was the saddest thing ever because this girl is one of my best friends in the mission and we always said, “Christmas we would be companions!” and it’s Christmas and we’re companions and then she goes home.   😦   We were only companions for 2 days but that was a tender mercy of the Lord, to put us together!   I’m soo grateful for that.   I know the Lord was looking out for both of us and I know that He knows all the desires of our hearts.

Okay so funny thing happening, we were in a trio and only one of us drives, then the companion that drives went home.   My other comp, her license expired!   And we all know that I don’t have a license.   So sad thing, we have a car in our parking lot of our apartment but we can’t use it!   AHHH!!!!   So frustrating because we can’t visit our investigators on a regular basis!  😦  We have a huge area too! So I guess that not having a car would be a weakness and it sometimes is but now we can turn our weakness into a strength by using the members more and build member trust!   Woot woot!   My comp is working for getting her license.

Miracle last night…

So as missionaries we are BROKE, especially by the end of the month.   We couldn’t go food shopping because we had no money to buy the food.   So we were like what are we going to do.   Then Hermana Puig was looking in the closet and we found all this FOOD!!!!!   WHAT!?!   It was like the instant soup and granola bars and crackers!!!   It was seriously a miracle!   We also found clothes that we can maybe use that others missionaries left here.   That was our Christmas Miracle 🙂   Tender Mercies!

I know that God is so aware of us all the time.   I’m soo grateful for my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and for everything that he does for me and continues to do.   I know that He loves me and that He knows that I love Him.   I live for Christ.

“There is no joy that can compare with that of a missionary who has been made the instrument for the salvation of a soul.” -Orson F. Whitney

Amen to that!

(He’s my cousin….haha jk…maybe 😉 )

With all my heart,

Hermana D. Whitney

Feliz Navidad!!! (Eishelle)

Hello, everyone!   Feliz Navidad!!!   Hope everyone is doing well and happy at this time of year.   I’m praying for all of you.   I am in love with this time of year, with my mission, with Chicago, just everything.   I love my life out here and what I’m doing.   I’ve always been a happy girl, but this probably tops it.   We went to the temple as a zone this past Friday to the 10am session and then right after that we went to President and Sister Woodbury’s home to have lunch and be taught by our leaders.   That was probably the best day I’ve ever had on the mission so far and one of if not the strongest times that I’ve ever felt the spirit.   Beautiful things were said, learned, and felt throughout the whole day.   President and Sister Woodbury’s gift to us was a Book of Mormon.   They wanted to do something that would always keep us pumped to go out and work.   He challenged us to read the entire Book of Mormon before General Conference in April highlighting all references to the Savior’s name and all references to the Atonement.   He promised that if we do this, we will be more powerful missionaries, and better mother’s and father’s.   President brings up marriage and being parents a lot.   We’re on a mission not just for others, but we’re also here for ourselves.

You guys, my heart has been so full!   I’m literally enjoying every single minute of this.   We had a beautiful lesson with J__ and J__ again.   He’s 73 and tries to stay out of the cold as much as possible and isn’t all that healthy right now.   Coming to church isn’t his priority but when Juana’s at church, he reads the Book of Mormon (keep in mind that he’s not a member but she is).   He basically bore his testimony to us about prayer and every single thing he said is what we preach at church when it comes to prayer.   He said that sometimes we forget whose we are and that God is always there and that many people pray just to ask for something, but what about the things we’re grateful for?   The things He gave you?   I was so impressed when he was saying all this and more.   Man, I love my calling.

Love Always, Hermana E. Whitney  Dec 23 at 12:58 PM

P.S. To my family in NY: 2 more days. Period.

Hermana Woolf, myself, Hermana Milliron and Hermana Savage

Passing by eyewitness news anchors before boarding the train

 

Chicago Christmas tree

 

Man playing Christmas music in the heart of Chicago

 

Always more to give … (Danielle)

Super sad this week, a good friend past away, Josh Robison.   My heart goes to the family during his holiday season.   The Plan of Salvation is REAL!   It has to be.   This has seriously strengthened my testiomony of it.   I know that I will see my friend again.

So you should know that I’m getting transferred!!!   I’m going to Hyrum so it’s south of Logan …like 20 minutes away!   But not fair that I only had 5 weeks in the Monte Viste Ward!   I loved that ward soo much!   So sad to leave too especially since the area is doing really well.   The work is really picking up!

My companion Hermana Claspell is finally training!   She’s super excited and I’m excited for her too.   I’m soo grateful that we were able to work with each other again and to see how much we both have grown and have matured.   The fact that we got along was a miracle.

I really saw the change in myself.   #missionchangesyou

We worked well and I know we were together for a reason. #Godknowsbest

My trainer/mom, Hermana Murillo, went home yesterday and also a whole bunch of missionaries that I love soo much went home.   AHH I hate saying bye!!   It was all sad goodbyes.   I was crying multiple times.   It crazy how close you can get to people in a short amount of time.   Love them all!

Yesterday I went in the English program for the first time ever on the mission.   I went with Sister Shreve and we had a really fun time together!   There was someone in particular that I just LOVED automatically. She has Lupus and she’s bedridden so we went to visit her and we shared a Mormon Message with her.   The video is called “What Shall We Give.”   I love that video soo much and the Spirit was there when we were watching.   She has a strong testimony too!   Something that she said that caught my attention was that,   “There’s always more to give than to receive during the Christmas season.”

I love that soo much and it’s soo true.   This is a time to think of others and family and friends.   My parents taught me as a child that, “it’s never about you but always about Jesus Christ and about serving others.” #Amen hahaha.   We must always have to outward perspective.

I want to wish you all a Very Merry Christmas! Make sure that we always remember the reason for the season. I love my Savior Jesus Christ.   I know that with Him,   I can do all things.   LOVE YOU ALL!!

Loving you always and forever,

Hermana D. Whitney Dec 17, 2013

Hermana Danielle B. Whitney

One by one, around the circle.

Well talk about getting lost in the work!   It seems to me this is how it has been these past couple weeks (those that are serving missions) so far.   Maybe it’s the time of year, who knows?   But I love it.   I had a lot of sweet moments this week. Lots of moments to make me smile.   Wednesday night we had a lesson appointment with L__ and J__. L__’s brother, M__ (10) was there as well as J__’s little sister, M__, (7).   They’re all cousins. M__ and M__ wanted to sit in and participate in the lesson we had prepared for L__ and J__ which was the Plan of Salvation.   So we taught all four kids! They were pretty rowdy and it was hard to keep them focused.   By the time we got to the subject of the Atonement I was pretty determined to keep them extra quiet for this part of the lesson.   They wondered and had questions about the love that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ has for EACH AND EVERY ONE of them.   The Spirit was there.   I then told them that we were going to do something very quietly as we would each say our names following the words, “And Jesus Christ died for me.”   We then went around the circle one-by-one.

“I’m J__, and Jesus Christ died for me.”

“I’m M__, and Jesus Christ died for me.”

“I’m M__, and Jesus Christ died for me.”

“I’m Hermana Whitney, and Jesus Christ died for me.”

“I’m L__, and Jesus Christ died for me.”

“I’m Hermana Woolf, and Jesus Christ died for me.”

L__, the father and uncle of these kids walked in the room right on time as all the kids told him it was his turn to say it.   He sat in his chair and says, “I’m L__, and Jesus Christ died for me.”   The Spirit was SO strong and I could really feel the love that God has for this family, especially the children.   It was very heart felt hearing these words come out of the mouths of children ages 7-10.   And they were finally quiet.   The song came into my mind, “A Child’s Prayer” and we played it on the iPad and all sung it together.   Then after that we played “I Am a Child of God”, L__’s favorite, and we sung that together as well.   These kids are amazing and so excited for their baptism next month.   They made my week when I saw ALL four of them at church yesterday!   They’re parents are inactive so it meant the world to me that these children attended church.

I want to let you all know how happily stressed I am!   You all know I don’t get stressed because I don’t like it nor do I like the word.   But there’s just so much to do and I am honestly in the best ward ever.   I wouldn’t mind at all staying here for the rest of my mission.   The members are wonderful, they love us, but I’ll admit, I love them more 🙂   Hope you all are enjoying the holiday season.   We’re going to the temple this week as a zone!   And we’re planning on caroling at a train station this week as a district!   And giving away Book of Mormon’s with ribbons wrapped around them as a gift.   The message of the Savior is the perfect gift one can give.

Happy Holidays!

Love, Hermana E. Whitney  12/16/13

Love these little girls.

Feelin’ S-O G (double O) D, good :)

Thank you for all your emails!! They made me all smile and laughed (literally LOLed)…*cough, cough Noelle!

So I just recently found out why our pdays are on Tuesday instead of Mondays…it’s because the temple is closed on Monday over here so we have it on Tuesday. I felt that I should of known that a long time ago but…

Okay so transfers are next week! WHAT!? This transfer was cut short a week because transfer day fell on Christmas so they cut it one week short. SO next transfer will be 7 weeks! That will be a LONG transfer. but hopefully I stay in the area because the ward is great! There’s also a lot of potential in the area too. But we’ll see next week.

Christmas is in 2 weeks from tomorrow! CRAZY! I love the cover of the Ensign, have to say. It’s such a intimate picture between Mary and Jesus. Because, I see it like, Mary is looking at Jesus and saying that I love you because you’re my son but also I love you because you’re my Savior. Ahh soo good! I can look at that painting for hours.

We had a Christmas Party and Devotional this week! That was fun. 🙂 We did the annual Mission Talent Show. Our zone did a Fijian Dance and it was soo much fun! We were legit laughing the whole time. Haha. We only practiced it once and for that we did pretty good. we had the best act, have to say. haha I’ll try to send you the video but it’s on my iPad and I’m not sure how to send it. We also saw Ephraim’s Rescue…the recent LDS movie that came out. One of the actors from that movie came and spoke to us! He was the guy that was the older Ephraim in the movie. It was soo legit!! The movie is about the pioneers. I thought that I gained the highest respect for the pioneers after I saw “17 Miracles” but after I saw Ephraim’s Rescue, I seriously don’t know how they did it. I have the utmost respect for them.

Ooh I was recently called to a new position in the mission…I became the first Sister Missionary to be a Media Specialist! 🙂 I can’t tell you what I do because…well…I don’t know yet. Hahaha. We have a training tomorrow about it and I’ll find out there. It has something to do with facebook and the iPads…I think. I’ll let you know this week.

This is going to be a good week…I feel it! 😀

Remember the reason for the season! Merry Christmas!! Love you all!!

Love always,

Hermana Whitney

Christmas Conference

 

Half of my zone

 

bike on a tree??

Because He came

Happy Holidays, everybody!   I hope you all are well. I love hearing how happy everybody is and especially at this time of the year.   I hope you all had the chance last night to see the Christmas Devotional last night from the First Presidency and other general leaders.   It was amazing and I was truly touched.   After pondering about the things I had learned from it, I came to the conclusion that the Spirit of Christmas must be the Holy Ghost.   Everyone is happy and has so much love in their hearts.   The Spirit of Christmas is something people look forward to feeling again.   I didn’t find out until yesterday morning that I didn’t have to give a talk until NEXT Sunday so I had a talk all prepped about missionary work, Christmas, and of course the Savior.   With that, I had the opportunity to look back on all the talks from previous Christmas Devotionals from the First Presidency as preparing.   One of my most favorite ones was from President Monson, “Because He Came”. He says:

Because He came to earth, we have a perfect example to follow. As we strive to become more like Him, we will have joy and happiness in our lives and peace each day of the year. It is His example which, if followed, stirs within us more kindness and love, more respect and concern for others.

Because He came, there is meaning to our mortal existence.

Because He came, we know how to reach out to those in trouble or distress, wherever they may be.

Because He came, death has lost its sting, the grave its victory. We will live again because He came.

Because He came and paid for our sins, we have the opportunity to gain eternal life.

Because He came, we are gathered tonight to worship Him, in bonds of brotherhood and love.

As the year closes we should all rededicate ourselves and start anew.   Rededicate ourselves to the families we have, the callings we have, and most of all our Lord and Savior even Jesus Christ.   There is no better time than now.   Now is the time and look ahead and remember all things are possible because He came.

Super quick: We put two kids on date this past week. 🙂   They are (girl) 9 and (boy) 8 respectively.   They want to get baptized on the 25th of January.   Their parents are less active but the kids just love the church.   We read with them 2 chapters from The Children’s Book of Mormon and it was my turn to read a picture.   I read the part where Joseph Smith wanted to know which church he wanted to join because he didn’t know and was confused.   Then the boy says, “I know which church I want to join!   It’s this one!”   He’s only 8!   And he was so serious and it just made my heart melt.

I love you all and I hope each of you continue enjoying this Christmas season.   Praying for each of you.   Now I’m going to enjoy my last moments with my very first trainer, Hermana Milliron, in downtown Chicago before she leaves!   She heads home in two days 😦   I’m super bummed. She’s been the greatest support system for me out here since I came.   Shout out to Hermana Milli!   I love you!!!

Love Always,

Hermana E. Whitney

P.S. NOELLE, HAPPY 16TH BIRTHDAY!!! NO BOYS TIL I GET HOME.

my zone

my district and we are all in the same ward

 

#don’tknowwhattocallmyletter

I’m soo happy that most of you had a beautiful holiday!   Christmas is in 22 days!!   I hit 9 months on Friday!!   AHHH!!! :O   #crazystuff

For Thanksgiving we went to a member’s home.   There were 8 missionaries there, plus their families and friends.   There were probably like 20+ people there maybe…and the CRAZY thing  was…it was in a trailer park!   Don’t ask me how we all fit in there because I don’t know myself.   hahaha but it worked!   😀   They tried their best to make the traditional food. (They’re Hispanic.) They’re soo cute and the food was really good.   Can’t complain.

So we had interviews with our Mission President on Saturday.   It went really well.   I love my President soo much!!   He took us out to eat at Café Rio!   It was really nice and good food.   Then mommy I met someone and she was a Filipina that knew you and Aunt Jet!   She lives in Logan and works at café rio.   She recognized me from your facebook. haha

I don’t have a lot to write this week but all I can say that I am very, very, very grateful to be a missionary right now.   I can’t express the joy I feel.   Whenever I look down and see my nametag, I can’t help but smile.   Then I remember my purpose as a missionary, the reason that I’m here.   I remember the name that I have over my heart, and it makes me work harder.   The mission tests you in every way that you can imagine!   And there’s no way to escape the trials that you face but the more you endure, the greater blessings that you receive.

We received a couple of trainings and after the trainings the leaders choose people to share their testimony.   So one of the people came up and one thing that stuck out to me was when he said, we have to always remember that we are all brothers and sisters.   That’s a very common sentence that us missionaries always use.   But for some reason it hit me differently. When he said that I saw my sisters (Eishelle, Noelle, Chantelle) and my brother (Michael) in my head.   I thought of how much I love them with an unconditional love!   Also how I only want the BEST for them.   And if they didn’t have the Gospel in their lives, of course without hesitation I would share it with them.   I felt the spirit soo strong when this was happening. Then the thing that hit me differently was that I need to see everyone like how I see my sisters and my brother.   I need to have that same love for my other brothers and sisters.   So this made me work harder to share this Gospel with everyone! This is the only path that we have to receive true happiness. Fact.

Thank you everyone for all your love and support!!   It helps a lot with everything!

Loving you always and forever,

Hermana D. Whitney

we bought onesies

pose with our onesies

with my poly homegirl Sister Sonasi

Already Thanksgiving???

Hello, my dear family and friends!   Happy Holidays!   It was a bit tough this past Thursday when going home from all the celebration we had that day, wondering how the holiday was spent for my family back home.   It seems you all had a wonderful time!   And for that I am so thankful.   I apologize I didn’t write last week.   I ran out of time and was only really able to read what was sent to me and we had other things to do.

Thursday this family invited us over for Thanksgiving dinner.   We were there visiting with them the weekend before Thanksgiving and they invited us over again on Thursday.   I thought to myself, “That’s a random day to have us over again when weekends worked out for everyone, but of course we’ll come by!”   I had no idea it was Thanksgiving or that it was even that close! I would hear people in the streets and stores say “Happy Holidays” to others and I would think, “It’s not that time of year yet.. we still got a little while…”   Joke was on me!   It was the sweetest thing to have this old couple make us Thanksgiving dinner for us.   She is less active and told us in her broken English (because she’s trying to learn English), “I appreciate all you do for us.”   It was only our 2nd time visiting her but she knows how much I really love her.   Ever since we’ve been visiting her she’s been coming to church!   Two Sundays in a row now 🙂

After that we went to the church to celebrate with our ward!   It was a great turn out and lots of people came and it was just so much fun.   We all had a wonderful time.   We had MCM (a meeting with our ward mission leader) right after that fiesta because you know, the work never stops 😉 and then went home.

Chicago 5th ward does this thing every month where they have the missionaries and the ward mission leader speak and do a program in sacrament meeting.   I’ll be speaking and so will our ward mission leader this Sunday so this should be fun, super excited 🙂   Yesterday as I was walking in the church building, there was a little girl who stared at me and walked with me until she knew she had my attention.   She asked, “Can I be your friend?”   I told her “Of course you can be my friend!   I give all my friends hugs!”   It was just about the cutest thing that’s happened to me in a long time.   I love kids!!! I’m also very appreciative that I’m a missionary and that I get to be that ‘someone’ for the children as the missionaries were for me growing up.

Happy Holidays, everyone!   And yes, now I am aware of how close the end of the year is.   Danielle, you beat me to the punch and announced we only had a month left til we ALL get to Facetime/Skype it! 3 weeks baby!   We’re going to have to make this happen again like we did for Mother’s Day and call in at the same time.   I love you all!

Love,

Hermana E Whitney

AKA family picture with my Chicago friends

 

Turkey

 

my zone

#hastenthework

Heyy so this transfer the other sister missionaries (I love them!) that I’m living with are always making fun of hashtags!   So we are hashtagging everything.   It’s pretty funny. So we say #hastenthework hahaha

So my Mondays I call them “Miracle Monday” because something always good happens on Mondays and that gets me in a good mood for Pday! 🙂   So the miracle yesterday was…

The sister missionaries that cover the area right next to us and they were in our area without knowing.   But they found a family and they are #freakin’golden!   So their story is that the parents are less actives/recent converts and they want to come back to church and the children want to be baptized!   WHAT!?!   So since they realized that they were in our area, their our family!!   AHHH!!!  The dad wants to baptize his children!   Also the children are soo willing to learn too!   We taught the plan of salvation and we had a puzzle to go along with it.   Afterwards we took the puzzle apart and the kids had to put it back together and explain it.   They explained it perfectly!   AHHH!!   I NEVER met kids like that, that are soo willing to learn and be baptized!

I went to the temple this morning! 🙂   I haven’t went in a LONG time!   It was super nice!   #peaceonearth

So Elder Clarke, the seventy that came and he told us to look at our nametags and pray with it in our hands.   So I did what he said.   I looked at my nametag and held it in my hands when I was about to say my prayer.   When I did that, it was a sacred experience for me.   I know that this is where I need to be.   I need the mission and the mission needs me.   The Lord is depending on me and expecting me to give it my best, my all.   So grateful for this precious time and this sacred time that the Lord has given me to serve Him.   #lovethemission

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!!   Have a great holiday!!   I love you all very much!!   Thank you for all your love and support!   You don’t know how much that helps!

Hey fam bam I will be able to see all you beautiful faces pretty soon!   4 weeks!?   Right!?   #who’scounting   #getexcited

Loving your always and forever!!

Hermana D. Whitney

These are the sisters I live with.

 

We did a zone blitz on a windy day and we were walking. Sister Sonasi and I (she’s my poly home girl)

hair and wind