The Journey Continues, Week 1 Transfer 2, Sept 25

Hola mi Familia!

This week has been a whirlwind of a week in many ways. First of all, it's funny that so many of you said that you  have been sick this week, becuase the sickness made it over to OCeanside too...last Tuesday night I got sick... It was horrible! We finished our naightly planning and I was feeling so cold...and when I got in bed I just couldn't stop shivering and I could NOT sleep.  Everything came on so quickly, I had chills, my head was pounding, my body was sore, and my I felt like there was agiant lump in my throat.  I checked my temp and I had a fever of 102 and basically didn't get any sleep that night! Wednesday was not the best day, but we were able to go out and work, and Sister Cook gave us permission to come in at 8pm instead of 9 so that I could get some rest.  But it was a HUGE blessing, because I woke up Wed morning and I was feeling great! I don't think I have ever been sick only ONE day in my life...sickness always lingers with me. The Lord is definitely looking out for me, and for that I am so greatful!

Ready for a miracle? K. here goes. So this Sunday we decided to fast for our 3 investigators to come to church.  We were super pumped, especially for Christian to come because he is going to get baptized on the 6th of Oct. Our Sacrament mtg is last and we knew that Christian was only gonna make it to sacrament mtg, so we walk into the chapel and not ONE of our investigators was there. My heart just broke right then and there...We had had this BOMB lesson with Christian this week and he read 2 N 31 and 3 N 27 and he was so excited becuase he hadn't realized how improtant of a step it was to be baptized and to come to church, so we thought for SURE he would be there. Anyways, I'm standing there and my heart is broken, my stomach is grumbling becuase we were fasting for that very purpose, and I just was very unhappy....a little bit mad in my heart to be honest. So we sit through SAcrament mtg and watch all the other sets of missionaries with their investigators while we sit there with none. LEt's just say I wasn't very happy by the time church was over.

So I decide to check the phone to see if anyone had returned our calls ( because we had called them all like amillion times) and there it is, a voicemail waiting from Christian. I was being prideful and didn't want to hear his excuses so I handed the phone to Hna K and she listened and called him back.  Ready for the Miracle?? She's talking to him and all of a sudden her sad sad face just flips around and she starts dancing around the room pumpin her fist in the air.  I am standing there in shock, as she tells me what he said, "SOrry I didn't make it to church today, I got stuck at work again. But ya know, Now that I know how important baptism is and how important it is to come to church I know I can't do this anymore. I'm going to go talk to my boss and tell him that I can't work on Sundays anymore, and if he says no then I'm just gonna have to look for a new job..." SAY WHAT?? Miracle . MIRACLE!!! He is awesome. He's gonna be baptized and be so blessed for all of his efforts.  Sweet sweetness.

Other than that, this week has been pretty darn good.  The Lord is aware of each and every one of us and we are so blessed to have the knowledge of the Gospel that we do!  I'm excited that the fam is getting that blog going, and I'm probably going to have to snail mail my contribution in, cause I don't have enough time to type it up! But I'll do that today!

KATE!!!! Oh my sweet Katie. I am so sorry that you have to have another surgery:( My heart just dropped when I read that. What a time you have been through recently...but ya know, no matter what the Lord has in store for you, just remember that the Lord never gives us anything that we can't handle. I've been learning that lesson myslef these past few months. There is a reason for all that is happening, even though you can't see the end result yet, there is a reason!  It takes a leap of faith to trust completely in the Lord and do what he wants you to do, but there is no better person to trust in and lean on for support that our Saviour Jesus CHrist!  He is there for you Kate, even when you feel devestated and dread what is going to happen. He knows. Lean on Him.  Just remember Fear is the opposite of Faith. You got this in the bag girly! Just take it one step at a time and know that the Lord is in control. Keep your chin up and be strong:) Thanks for being so strong and being an example to our whole fam;)  Love you so GIRLY!

Mom, I got the memory card thanks! Al- I got the scripture case and it is perfect! Thanks!  Jame- tell Ella that I love and miss her too! GLad you got the honor of playing "me" in their play the other day:) Tara- you have bunnies? Funfunfun! CAm- hope you all get better soon and you can catch uop on rest. DAd- hope  your leg is healing well and quickly!

Love you all!

-Hna Whick

One Down, Sept 18-Week 6, Transfer 1

Fam Damily!

Today begins the start of my second transfer. Can you believe it? 6weeks here in Oceanside...seems like a lifetime yet at the same time seems like I've only been here a week. This morning I was thinging back on the last 6 weeks and all that has happened. I realized I am really good at comparing myself to others...which is something I really shouldn't be doing...especially when I compare myself to my trainer who has been on her mission WAY longer than I have. All too often I only see my faults and where I am lacking, but I oftern fail to recognize how far I've come.  I want to understand and communicate so badly- I get frustrated with myself. But then I think back to the first week I was here and I could hardly catch a full sentence that anyone was saying.  I remember thinking the first evening here in Oceanside- we were walking on the street trying to contact people...oh man I just remember thinking to myself...."Oh man, Oh man...I REALLY hope no one is outside walking tonight!" I was SO uncomfortable..and now I just walk up to peeps and start talking. Even if I can't understand everything that they are saying--at least I can walk up to them and start talking:)  Anyways, just thinking about what has happened these past 6 weeks.

Well let's be honest.  I've been discouraged here in this area. WE have had very few investigators, and we end up dropping all of them very shortly. Jacqueline, the one investigator that we had at the beginning of last week, told us on Friday that she didn't want to learn anymore- and that she was very content being Catholic. She was very sweet about it, but everyone has their agency, and no matter how much I want to change her decision--I just can't. 

BUT- this week we found a Golden Investigator. IMagine that...they really do exisit!! His name is Christian and he is flipppin awesome. He has a baptismal date for Oct 6th and he is SO prepared to receive the Gospel!  It is amazing, and quite refreshing. We taught him the plan of salvation on Saturday and he was just so into it-all the questions that he asked led directly into the next point of the lesson and we we checked for understanding at different points during the lesson he would be like "Well from my understanding..." and then just be exactly right about everything. Flippin awesome.  The Lord knew we needed a miracle, and we needed somethign to keep us going here. Because we both just feel a little lost here. We are working so hard, but we just aren't seeing any fruits from our labors...I guess I just need to be more patient. Well, not I guess, I know. Patience is always on my list of attributes to improve on.

Yes Mom, we cook more than I expected here. If any of you have any simple easy, delicous meals (that aren't pizza, baked turkey sandwich, stir fry, or pasta) that you'd like to send my way that would be great!  Mom- if you can print that email you sent to me this week withthe recipies on it and mail it to me that would be great, becuase I don't have access to a  printer:) Sorry that you are feeling so under the weather Mom, that can't be much fun.  There have been SO many people sick here...which is interesting becuase it has been so dang blasted HOT! It hit 106 the other day...oh man it was horrible. That is very rare temperature for here- and my face was very pink that day...from heat and from the sunburn.  But,we are surviving!  Hoping I don't catch any of this sickness that is going around! Man- that's a bummer that the freezer went out- but deliciousthat you made strawberry jam-jealous:)

Katie! Can't believe you got a warnign ticket...haha that is quite hilarious! DAd said to tell you about my first ticket... but I've never been pulled over before. I've had my fair share of parking tickets from the dear Provo Police Dept, but I've never gotten a speeding ticket or anything. What was your warning for? Speeding? I couldn't open the attachment DAd sent to see.

Tara- glad you are safe and that you didn't get any more damage from your hydroplaning incident!

Jame- I got quite the giggle out of picturing Ella running around with her pockets loaded with rocks and having her pants fall to the ground everystep becuase of the weight! Hilariuos!  That pic you sent of Ruby is adorable! What a beaut she is going to be...that little sparkle in her eye is so cute! Ali- Brennen is home already? Wow- I feel like he just left...time is such a weird concept here! Cute pic of wade that you sent!  Cami- loved your letter! Thanks for sharing all your experiences! 

WEll I've got to go, but I sure love you all! Hope you have a great week this week!

Love always,

Hna Whicker

 Food! This is the haul we got all in one day! 2 mangos abag of chips, 4 sodas, and a package of cake. All from members.

 Us Being Silly!

 We are loven our delicious pizza!

 Me in all my glory!

Our District! Squatting: Elder Hammer (Zone ldr), Elder Perez(District Leader), Elder Armstrong(ZoneLdr), Hma Bauserman, Hma Jones, Elder Thompson(fromHurricaneUt), Hma Kohrman & Me.

11 Sept-Week 5, Transfer 1

Hello wonderful FamilY!! 

First of all I have a few requests:)

1. I need our Banana Bread recipe

2. Ali- ya know the purple scripture case you made me for my small english scriptures? Well, it has caught the eye of many peeps in this area, especially my companion.  Don't worry, I'm advertising for ya:)  But, any chance you can make one in yellow (just like mine-same size and all) and send it to me?  I want to buy it from you to gove to Hna Kohrman;) And yes, I need to buy it from you, you can't just give it to me k? But you'll have to tell me how much it is and I'll just send ya a check k? K. Gracias.

We are down to one investigator, JAcqueline. She is a sweety. She's about 45 or so and has 2 kids and is a devout Catholic.  She lost her Mom and her Dad within the last year as well as her baby several years ago.  We talked about the plan of Salvation and how her parents are in the Spirit world now, and how she'll be able to see them and be with them again after this life. It was a sweet lesson and the Spirit was strong.  We've only taught her once, and she bailed on us when went to pick her up for church on Sunday, but we are meeting again with her tonight so we are hoping to do a chapel tour and get rid of any fears or uncertainty that she has about coming to church. Hopefully she'll feel the power of the Spirit and accept our invitation t obe baptized! 

This week, this week.  It has been a long one. It is hard to work SO hard everyday and do everything you can, and then you get home and you just can't see any results for all the hard work t hat you put in.  That is probably the most frustrating thing to me- not seeing results. I am a very visual person- I like to make things, clean, things, do projects, and then when I'm done I just like to step back and enjoy the fruits of my labor...the Lord is really testing me on that one.  I KNOW there are people her that have been prepared and that are ready for the Gospel, but we just can't seem to find 'em yet.  Hna Kohrman and I fasted this last Sunday to be able to understand what the Lord wants us to do in this area- and we both feel very strongly that we need to work through the members to find people to teach. So- that has been our goal.  Last night we had prepared this AWESOME dinner message with one of our active families. SEriously, it was sweet and we were both pumped to share it.  THey are a great family and we have a pretty good relationship with them.   ANd we got there, we ate, and we started sharing the message and man oh man- they shot down EVERYTHING we said! We had a scripture, a quote from Elder BAllard about member missionary work, and a commitment to pray sincerely to the Lord to find someone they could share the gospel with and have a name by a certain date.  Excuses, excuses, excuses about how they can't do it because they work and on and on and on.  Needless to say it was very frustrating.  So here is the question: What would could the missionaries do to motivate YOU to do missionary work?  Let me know in you r next letters k?

Sweet experience this week.  Our zone put together this musical fireside that was called "Follow Thou Me". All missionoaries played a role and were to invite eVERYONE. Members, non-members, investigators, friends, contacts, everyone. It was all about the life of the Savior and His invitation for us to follow him.  We had narration, clips of the new Bible videos on lds.org and then a song after each of the sections of HIs life.  I was SUPER nervous about it becuase they asked me to sing  "I stand All amazed" and then they turned the song (which was written to be a solo) into a quartet with some other sister missionaries.  Normally, I prefer to sing in a grouprather than a solo-but I was very hesitant in this instance. Ya know how some voices just clash when they mix? Well that was pretty much the case here. Every practice that we did was horrible. But then, as we were sitting waiting for our turn to sing in the fireside, we were watchign the clip of Christ's crucifiction and His suffering in the garden. As we were watchign that, the Spirit just filled me up. It didn't matter what we were going to sound like, becuase the words of the song that mattered. CHrist suffered everything for us. This event was the most important thing that ever happened! And we were about to declare that to the world. And we did. I have no idea how we sounded- but I know exactly how we all felt, and I know how the audience felt. IT was a SWEET experience. Man- we are so blessed. SO BLESSED!  THe Savior died for YOU. Specifically for you. So that You can return again to  live with God. How can we not do what He asks of us when He has given us everythign? Oh I how am forever grateful to my Savior. I can never repay Him for the great gift He has given me. I know with all my heart that He lives. HE lives!! My heart just overflows with love at the thought of  Him and all He has done for me!

OUt of time yet again...but I love you all ! Thanks for being so supportive in all that I do, you are all such great examples of love and light and I couldn't ask for better family and friends!

-HErmana Whicker

 

4 Sept 2012--Week 4, Transfer 1

Oh man oh man, Where to start?

This week has been a toughie...let's be honest.  Missionary work is just plain hard!  HArder than I EVER imagined it to be. Some days I just feel like an idiot going up to strangers and trying to talk to them in a language I don't know.  But then other days I just feel elated and can't I want to talk to everyone!  it is quite ridiculous, I just want to be happy all the time and not worry, but ya know it's just not that  easy.  I realized the other day that I get so frustrated with Spanish becuase I ca'nt express myslef the way I would in English.  In spanish I'm just spouting off vocabulary trying to conjugate and simply get the words out, but I just can't express myself with my personality as I would in English and that is SO hard for me!  BEcuase I don't want be fake, but I can't help but feeling fake when that happens!  So silly.  But Imma pushin through!  We had a Zone training meeting yesterday-- and let's be honest I  really didn't want to go becuase I knew we were going to be doing a million role plays and practices and I just just didn't want them to be telling me that I needed to improve because I already knew that I needed to improve in EVerything!  But, we went and it was so amazing! President Cook showed up (which didn't help my atttitude in the moment becuase it's already stressful practicing with your zone leaders watching you every move, but then when your Mission President comes and watches you, the pressure just multiplies by 10!!!).  Anyways he was watching Hermana Kohrman and I practice setting up and giving the First vision "15mph" so that our investigators can really visualize it and internalize it while they hear it.   Anyways, he had just walked over from working with another group (in which he made one of the other missionaries cry...unintentionally, but still she was crying) and started listening to ME giving the first vision. Oh man...stressfulll. But I was trying so hard to block everyone out and just focus on the investigator. So, I finished and I looked up and him-- and there he was standing over me all teary eyed and he just said "perfect".  Um wow.  It was sweet. Not that I am trying to be prideful, but I really needed that vote of confidence right then and there in that moment.  Man I am so greatful for the Spirit and that I get the opportunity to be an instrument in the Lord's hands and have the spirit work through me! 

We had to drop Maria...our one investigator that was progressing.  She knows it's true--oh she knows it! But, she doesn't want to do it without her husband. And her husband is NEVER home. It took us a while to finally get that real reason out of her of why she didn't want to act...but there it is. So we invited her to talk to her husband and explain why this is so imprtant to her and that she wants to move forward together, but she didn't seem to enthusiastic about it. We were really bummed...but ya know everyone has their agency.  We are going to continie to stop by and see how's she's doing every once in a while, but we're not teaching her anymore:( 

We had a Saweet experience yesterday though.  We had just parked and were getting out of the car to walk a few blocks to our appt's house and this girl passes us just was I open the door. She was walking real fast so I quickly said hey how ya doin? and she hesitantly turned and said hello. Long story short, her name is Estera and she is from Romania- and she had made the desicion THAT VERY DAY that she needed to make some changes in her life, and then we stopped her and talked to her.  Then she asked us if we had a Bible for her to read, so we started talking about the BOM and it was aweseom.  We only had one in Span thoughUm, can we say GOLDEN INVESTIGATOR?? Yes, yes we can.  Except she doesn't speak Spanish. Bummer. So we had to turn her over to the english elders!  But that's okay, becuase we are going to find someone just like her that speaks spanish, and it's gonna be sweet. IT gave me the motivation to talk to everyone becuase we really just don't know who has been preapared and whop hasn't! 

Mom- I got you package yesterday:) Thanks for the 72hr lit supplies and the scripture covers, they are great!!  Sorry that you are sick!  Man, that is no fun at all.Congrats to Brin on your baptism!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   That is sweet that you guys got to go to Brin's baptism on Saturday!  How hilarious that it was in Devil's lake!! Funny funny;)

Cami- that is hilarious that Brinly and Cade both started crying when the bus passed them, thinking it forgot to pick them up!  hahaha so so cute:)  Yes Tara- I got your letter from Florida, but I got it like 2 weeks after I had already been here in CA.  You sent me the link to some movie clip on lds.org, but I just don't have enough time to watch it, so sorry:(  Jami- Addie and Ella are such a hoot.

Oh man, 1 minute left! Love yyou all!!! I am doing well, just growing and becoming the missionary the Lord wants me to be ! Love you lots!!

Lynds