I’m grateful for my mission! (Danielle)

Transfers are next week, so if I don’t email next week I apologize.   It’s so weird that it doesn’t feel like this transfer is ending.   That’s strange because usually by the end of the transfer, you feel like it needs to end.   Haha.

So this week was a hard week.   It’s not that everyday was hard but the way it ended was soo sad.   We were dropped by two investigators and we dropped one investigator this week. 😦   We are trying to find more people.   We know all of our potential and former investigators and right now they are not wanting it.   We still have people who we’re working with though but we’re still not busy.   So in general we need more.

On Sunday, we were able to have lunch with Brother Stevenson.   He was a missionary in Davao City, Philippines that knew our family.   Also his brother was there, who is the Presiding Bishop of the church.   But it was a pleasure to meet him and his family.

We went to a play for our former investigator.   The play was Peter Pan, it was super cute!   When we went to the play the people were like, “The Sisters are here!? Yaayy!!”   “The Sisters!!”   It was like being famous. Hahaha. #lifeasamissionaryinUtah

I’m grateful for my mission.   I’m grateful for my Heavenly Father.   I love that He knows exactly what I will say in my prayer before I say it.   I know that He knows the desires in my heart before I even know what to say.   He knows all that but He decides to listen first.   I’m grateful for this Gospel.   Whenever I receive opposition, it just strengthens my testimony of it.   And my testimony has been strengthened a lot this week!   haha.   I know it to be true because it makes sense.

Loving you all always and forever!

Hermana Whitney   3/11/14

Ooh also Hermana Vergara dyed my hair this week! Now I love it even more!

This is Karina, a former investigator. We went to her Peter Pan play. She was an Indian in it. Super Cute!

So we talked to the 8-10 years old primary girls about missionary work. All of the girls are thinking about going on missions! Haha

My companion, Hermana Vergara and I with Bro Stevenson’s brother, Bishop Gary E. Stevenson, the Presiding bishop of the church.

With Bro Stevenson and his wife. He was a missionary in Davao City, Philippines where my mom lived 30 yrs ago.

Connect the Dots (Eishelle)

As I was writing one of my cousins back (shoutout to Goygoy!) I
realized that as of right now all my happiness is coming from the fact
that my investigators are really happy and enjoying The Spirit,
knowing that they’re in the right path because they can feel it.   Last
night we had a wonderful lesson with the couple that we have on date
and after the closing prayer, Ricardo took a deep breath and said “I
can feel the peace.”   That actually sounded a lot better in Spanish (a
lot of things do) but they were explaining that they have their busy
weeks and it’s always nice to finish off the week with us feeling The
Spirit when we come by and them knowing that this is RIGHT.   It feels
good.   I’m happy.

We had Stake Conference yesterday and it was all in Spanish!   There
were translator’s there for the speakers that only knew English.   But
it was such a wonderful conference!   Something that was lovely that
I’ll never forget is when the Illinois Chicago Temple President spoke.
He said that when he was a kid he loved playing this one game called
Connect the Dots.   You had to find the beginning and the end and then
you would have this beautiful picture.   He explained that’s exactly how
it is in the temples when you connect the dots and then we find the
beginning and the end.   Think about it 😉   We see the big picture.
Problem is, when people leave the temple, they forget that big
beautiful picture and that’s why we have to keep going.   The temple is
there to keep us in, not keep us out.

Love Always,

Hermana E. Whitney  3/10/14

Amy and me! She was in my zone in the MTC and it was a tender mercy
seeing each other. But really tho. She’s from around here and brought
some missionaries to transfers. She told me about her experience about
coming home because she’s sick. With tears in both our eyes, it was
incredible that the words she told me were exactly what I needed to
hear.

Elder’s Kolo and Haggard! Kolo was Assistant to President and
Haggard was my district leader. Both went home and both left
impressions on me as a missionary that I’ll never forget. Kolo
especially!!! Probably the greatest missionary I’ve ever met. Love
them both.

Numbers are not just numbers (Danielle)

On Sunday we had a missionary musical missionary fireside!   I love those things because the spirit is soo super strong. After it I was in awe because even by the time I went home I was like, “wow.”   It was super good.   I loved it because it was an edifying Sunday.   The fast and testimony was spirit filled and heart felt testimonies.

So numbers…I was not numbers person at all in the mission.   It never mattered to me.   Then some people wonder why is your church so into your numbers?   Like in the video that came out for the church is mentioned that we were over 15 million.   Then it came to me that each number = a name.   The greater the numbers are, more people are being saved in the kingdom of God.   Our numbers show our work ethic.   Numbers show if we are doing our purpose as missionaries and members or not.   So this church is all about numbers because each number is a soul coming unto Jesus Christ.   And that’s why it’s so important.

I’m so grateful for my mission.    I will hit my year mark on Thursday the 6th!   Crazy!   I’ve been doing this for a year?   I guess so, right?   Transfers are in 2 weeks!   Most likely I’m staying the area.

I know that the Savior lives.   I know that He loves us.   I feel His love everyday.   I know that if I was the only person on earth, He would still come and pay for my sins because I’m that important to Him.

I love my mission!

Love always from your favorite sister missionary in Utah!

Hermana Whitney

March 4,2014 at 4:49 PM

Soo my shout outs! Haha

Daddy!! I hope that you had a great birthday!! You definitely deserve it!! Love you!!!

Mitchell!! Congratulations on getting married!!! Yeahh buddy!!! I wish only that best!!

These are pictures of my companion and I with our new haircut with little Audri.

This is Audri. She’s half black and half Hispanic. She’s speaks both Spanish and English. We were rocking our hair together! Hahaha. Don’t we look alike? Haha. I love her! She;s soo cute!!

It’s like the Mama and the Papa (Eishelle)

Buenas tardes!   Thank you all very much for the birthday wishes!   They
are very much appreciated 🙂   I had a wonderful birthday and took a
trip to the temple with my comp and one of our members, J___.   She
has been wanting to take a trip there and for us to come with her just
to take a trip and have a nice temple walk.   It was quite the
experience for me.   I couldn’t had asked for a better time or place to
be than on my birthday.   Even though we didn’t go in, the Spirit was SO
strong.   I enjoyed just looking at it and enjoying the strong Spirit
felt.   I was reminded 🙂

Monday night we went to a less active family’s home and just decided
to stop by.   It was a beautiful night with them!   The three kids were
home and their ages are 22, 19, 14 (?).   The two oldest are girls and
the youngest is the boy.   But we ended up having a fun night with them
and started sharing our most favorite scriptures with them, and they
did the same.   It was one of the sweetest moments I’ve had since being
in this area.   The Spirit was there.

Last night we had a lesson with Ricardo and Carmen, our people on
date!   They are just the best.   I love them so much.   They have two boys
and they always tell us that having us around is like having the
daughter’s that they never had.   We taught them last night about the
Book of Mormon and its relation to the Bible.   Ricardo says, “It’s like
the mama and the papa.”   I DIED LAUGHING.   The fact that we learn from
both the Bible and the Book of Mormon and that they go together made
his analogy of them made it even FUNNIER!   I couldn’t stop laughing and
neither could anyone else.   It was great.   Please pray for them that
they get baptized this month!

This church is so true.   I’m grateful every single day for having this
beautiful opportunity to serve a mission.   The greatest thing I’ve ever
done.   I love this.

Love Always, Hermana E. Whitney  3/3/14

P.S. Daddy, I hope you had a Super, Duper Happy Birthday! I love you big time.

HERMANA WILKINSON AND ME!!!! So, I’ve mentioned before that her and
I are the only black Hermana’s and Sister’s in the entire mission. I
just love her so much, she’s like a sister. We have a blast every
moment we have together.. one could probably tell haha.

Yes, this is ice. This guy isn’t going anywhere. Just showing how
cold it’s been out here in Chicago 🙂 This isn’t over…
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Last district meeting. Plus one of our Zone Leader’s who is going
home (with the closed eyes).

My comp and I 🙂

Jennifer and me! One of the strongest people I know. I look up to
her a ton. She asked her mom to buy me a scripture case from Guatemala
that says ‘Guatemala’. So excited.

Emailing at mcdonalds!!! Taken just now. Hna Madsen made me
This scarf for my bday 🙂