Monday, January 7, 2013

Week 17

Dear Family and Friends, 

It has been another great with here in NOM. Ah I just continue to love and embrace this work.  I thank my Heavenly Father everyday for this amazing opportunity that he has given me.  I am so humbled each and every day.  This week so a roller coaster of emotions.  Sister Belka and I well let's just say that we are just the best of friends.  I love her so much, and am so grateful and humbled for the many things that she has taught me.  I will be forever grateful for her.  I was so blessed with an amazing trainer. One who I will be forever grateful for. She taught me that obedience is everything, and how we receive blessings. She taught me how to have charity and love people. She taught me how to strengthen my relationship with Father. She taught me how to use the atonement. She taught me how to love this work, and work hard. I could go on and on all day. I am so grateful for the many things that she has taught me. I just hope and pray that I can continue to grow, and become who Heavenly Father needs me to become. I hope and pray each day that he is proud of me, and the missionary that I am. My new companion's name is Sister Graham.  She is amazing!!  We joked a couple of weeks together how sad we were that we would never be able to be companions, and now look what happened.  We are both so excited.  As we have taught together I have already began to understand the many amazing things that I am going to be able to learn from her.  

I had such a humbling experience yesterday on tour.    I had a feeling that I needed to go and sit up in first chair.  Not even five minutes later an older couple walked in through the doors.  I knew that there was something special about them from the moment I looked into their eyes.  I walked them into the Theater room, and started asking about them.  Patricia is having surgery tomorrow, and so they wanted to come and touch the temple tonight to bring her some comfort.  They then began to tell me that they had been really inactive for quite some time.  Patricia felt prompted to read in the bible one morning, and knew in her heart that she needed the gospel back in her life.  So she told her husband thinking that he wasn’t going to agree with her, but to her surprise he felt the exact same way.  He then went on a drive and ended up at the church where he found his old bishop, and went in and talked with him. Since meeting with him they have come back to church, and have received the blessings that this gospel brings.  They have understood that this is where they need to be in order to have the fullness of Joy that the gospel brings.  They then told me that they were going to be sealed next month.  I was instantly able to feel of the love that Heavenly Father had for them.  It was so overwhelming.  The spirit was so powerful as I told them the love that I had for them, but most importantly how much Heavenly Father loved them.  We all just sat there and cried.  We then watched God’s Plan.  There was not a dry eye in the room.  I was so humbled to be able to grow such a powerful love for them instantly, and to be able to share my testimony with them.  I was then able to take them on tour, and focus the whole tour on covenants.  We all were able to bear testimony of the blessing that this gospel has brought to us.  It was such a tender mercy.  As we got to the Temple I was able to testify of the blessings that come from the temple, and the blessings that they were going to receive as they prepare to enter the temple next month.  They then asked me to go to their sealing.  How humbling.  I know that Heavenly Father is so aware of me, and he allowed me to change tonight because of their testimony.  I hope that I will be able to be a part of their special day.  Before they left Patricia told me that what I said at the beginning of the tour as I expressed the Love that God had for them was almost exactly what her patriarchal blessing said.  I am so grateful that I was able to speak from the spirit, and be able to teach them what they needed to hear.  I love this work.  I love the trail center.  I am so grateful to be here.  

I also had a very powerful experience with Elder Watson.  He has become my best friend (He is the TC director).  He is leaving in just two weeks, and so he told me he wanted to give me a blessing before he left.  So he brought me into his office, and started telling me how proud he was of me, and most importantly how proud Heavenly Father was of me.  We talked about some other stuff, and he just gave me some really powerful counsel.  He then gave me a blessing.  In the blessing he promised many so many powerful things.  He was able to tell me how proud Heavenly Father was of me, and also how proud my family was.  He told me that they were such a huge support to me.  How I got so lucky I will never know.  He then told me that I have been forgiven from everything.  That I am pure and clean, and that I needed to move on.  This past month I keep looking back on all the mistakes I have made, and am sick inside for the things that I have put my Savior through.  Today I realized the true power of the Atonement.  I can't tell you how humbling of an experience this was.  I am so grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ and for his atoning sacrifice for me.  I know that he loves me, and is with me EVERY STEP OF THE WAY!!  I walked out of that office a new determined missionary.  I walked out of there knowing that I can do anything.  That I have a Savior who loves me, and is going to bless me as I continue to Change, and become who I need to be.  

Sister Whitt

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

week 16

Dear Friends and Family, 

Happy New Year!! I can't believe it is 2013.  What a great 2012 we had, and what a great 2013 it is going to be. It was such an awesome week.  I am so grateful for the many miracles that we saw this week.  Heavenly Father put us exactly where we needed to be, and when we needed to be their.  I am so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who knows me personally, and allows me to bring his children into the fold.  

So I had so many funny things happen this week.  On Wednesday we were going to see Sharon our recent convert.  We pulled in the parking lot, and parked not where we normally park.  We were going over our lesson plan, and then a man walked in front of our car, and sister Belka jumps out and said we need to teach him. It took me like 3 minutes to really comprehend what was going on, and then I finally got out of the car.  He was deaf, and guess who knows sign language yup you guessed it Sister Belka.  So they were signing back and forth.  He was so engaged in the conversation.  She would try and tell me what he was saying, and what she was saying, but let's just say I was just standing there looking really cool.  Well then his friends walks up, and was like what is going on here?  So we explained to him our purpose, and that we were representatives of Jesus Christ.  Well then Sister Belka just starts talking back to Eric (the boy who is deaf), and I start teaching his friend who is looking at me all weird.  Then he was like You are really pretty, and I was like oh thanks so the Book of Mormon ha ha, and then he was like No really you are so pretty can I take you on a date? So Jesus Christ? I am going to take you on a date okay?  So I went on to tell him that we aren't allowed to do that we are here to bring others closer to Christ.  Then he was like come on we would have so much fun!! Let's go hang out while they keeping talking because it is freezing here.  Here I am dying and Sister Belka is in her own little world leaving me with this creeper.  So of course I just ignored what he said and started teaching him the restoration when again he tells me how pretty I am and how there are so many nice restaurants that he is going to take me too!!  I am literally dying.  I have officially entered the awkward club ha ha!!  I never thought I would be awkward when I got home, but yup it only took me 3 months to enter into that Club.  Finally Sister Belka pipped in and told him that she was glued to my hip, and then of course he was like well let's go on a double date haha!! So then of course Sister Belka being the charitable person she is she was like yeah of course.  We would love to teach you about the gospel over a nice dinner ha ha!!!  So I never thought I would be asked out on a date on my mission, but I can now check that off my bucket list.  I am so grateful to be out of the dating world right now!!  

Funny story number two so we had just gotten done with church and we were eating our dinner in the kitchen.  I had to go to the bathroom of course because for some reason I have to pee every 10 minutes it feels like.  Drinking a lot of water is so over rated.  Well anyways I go to flush the toilet and in land my tag haha!! Leave it to me for something like that to happen.  So I of course panic, and run and grab Sister Belka, and try to bribe her into getting it for me.  Well the bribing didn't work so I finally found a plastic glove, and well I am sure you don't want to know all the details, but hey another thing to check off my bucket list. 

So other then really funny things happening we have had a great week.  We actually met all of our goals for the week which we were so grateful for.  I know that it is when we are obedient, and strive to do our best that Heavenly Father will bless us more then we will ever know.  Heavenly Father placed us where we needed to be, and at the exact time that we needed to be there.  We went see a referral that came through the gingerbread, and he wasn't home, but we felt like we needed to go and see two house, and of course they wanted nothing to do with us, but then a car pulled up into his house, and a lady got out.  We started testifying to her, and teaching her about the restored gospel when she told us that she was a member of our church, but doesn't go to church anymore.  She was a total lost sheep.  She is so prepared and ready to come back to church.  We met with her again, and she is incredible.  She has such a strong testimony she just wasn't ever converted.  We had such a powerful lesson with her, and she has started to read the Book of Mormon, and is praying to know if it is true.  We are hoping to see her at church on Sunday.  The next day we met another lost sheep while we were trying to find another referral.  He just landed in our lap pretty much.  He is battling cancer, and is really struggling, and knows that he needs God in his life.  We saw so many miracles today it was so amazing, and such a humbling experience.  

Well I am sure that you are all anxiously waiting to see what happened with Transfers.  Well I actually won't know until tomorrow, but they did ask us to take the new Sister Missionaries out which most likely means I will be training.  Words can't express how nervous I am, but I know that Heavenly Father has a plan for me specifically.  I am so excited for change, and to be able to come closer to my Heavenly Father.  I just hope that I can make my Heavenly Father proud, and to be able to do all that he has asked me to do.  I love this work, and am so grateful for the blessings that it brings to me, and the people of Nebraska.  I am so excited for a new year!!! I love you all so much and hope that you have a great week!! Please pray for me this week.  I need it.  

Sister Whitt