Chill the phone: dead frogs, big dogs, dented trucks--and candy noodles for dinner

Hola Mi Familia!!!!!!
How are you?!?!?! I miss you!!! AND HAPPY LATE BIRTHDAY ABBEY!!!!!
This week has been fun, trying, full of new knowledge and the spirit! Everything I could ever want it to be! We've been struggling to find new people to teach and we really just want to make a difference in these two wards. I love them. They've become a new family and I just want the best for them and I want to be able to lift some of the burdens from them. Evaluating and setting goals is a huge help to Sister Wardinsky and I.
SET GOALS: THE LORD LIKES SPECIFIC PLANS AND HE WILL HELP YOU!
Seriously, he will.
Last Tuesday, to finish up our preparation day we got to go to the Temple with our recent convert Elijah, the 12 year old who received the Priesthood last week! I feel so blessed that President Schmitt has allowed us to go to the Temple with our new investigators if it's their first time! This is my second time doing this and I love it!

Elijah is the sweetest boy and has such a pure heart! He is the only member in his immediate family. That must be soo hard but the ward is so good to him, giving him rides, getting him white shirts, and just being his second family! He was all smiles when he got to do baptisms for the dead, and I just had to share the same feelings he did! I could just feel those people rejoicing as the proxy baptisms were happening, nothing can describe that feeling! And of course I know that's the closest I'll come to swimming in any pool for now! But it's the best thing to do! And I hope I get to see other converts go to the temple for the first time! I can't wait until Taylor actually goes through the temple! I know she's excited too! Also when we talked to Elijah about his experience this past Sunday, he was just beaming, he wanted to go again, and he just wants to go to the Celestial room and when we told him he could see pictures, he was like "WHAT?!" It was really cool.
:)
Everyone should be as pumped as he was about the temple.
Wednesday was a go go go day. We finally met all the investigators the Elders were teaching previously in Jamul. I'm not sure how solid all of them are. Sometimes people get confused and think we are there for a social visit, when we are really there to preach the gospel! So I'm becoming better at slipping gospel principles into things you don't think would relate, like dead frogs, big dogs, dented trucks... I've been pretty impressed with myself. Trust me, everything connects back to our loving Heavenly Father. Try it sometime! Who knows, you could see a miracle!
Thursday we went over to a members house who has not been coming to church for a long time. We set an appointment and when we got there, right off the bat they said they aren't coming to church anytime soon.
That appointment made me really sad. Someone had the gospel and then chose to just give it up, to reject everything we said, to have a counter argument--I knew all I could do was to bear my testimony. I hope they felt the spirit because I sure did. Let me tell you I know without a doubt that this book, The Book of Mormon is true. It has changed my life in so many ways, all for the better. I know I need this book everyday of my life. And I know if you give it a chance, read it, pray about it, ask the ultimate source, Heavenly Father, if it is true, in His time you will get an answer. And when you do IT'S AWESOME!!! Literally the best thing ever! There's no denying it, and it makes you do crazy things like go on a mission! The happiest moments of my life. Trust me. I know.
Friday was a big night in Jamul, it was their annual Emergency Preparedness Activity. They advertised this a lot, all throughout the community, in newspapers, all over! And we gave out flyers to so many strangers in Jamul and El Cajon it was awesome! Booths from all over the place were set up at the church. The border patrol, the fire department, pest control, and so on. But the best booth I'd have to say was the spiritual preparedness booth. THAT WAS US! We set up a booth with copies of The Book of Mormon, pamphlets, Mormon.org cards, had "I am a Mormon" playing, had brochures on what our leaders have counseled us to do for finances and food storage and we offered church tours. We got to give one, and he said he would come to church. He did not. Hundreds of people were there, no one interested in learning more, but we gave people our number and we planted a lot of seeds! I was sad we couldn't see much of the fruits of our labor BUT my trainer always told me you can count how many seeds are in an apple but you can't count how many apples are in a seed. I'll never know how all my efforts pan out so I jus thave ot keep moving forward, always improving, and that's what I plan on doing!
The most noteworthy thing that happened this past Saturday was our dinner. You know how missionaries generally get asked what was the worst food they've ever had on their missions--I thought I wouldn't have one, but now I do: Noodles, with green beans, yellow beans and pinto beans all in a mixture of vinegar, sugar and corn starch. Enough said.
Please don't try this at home. Please don't feed this to your missionaries.
Despite what has been said it is NOT candy.
Sunday is always a wonderful day. We had splits again in both wards, which was less stressful this time. The wonderful Sister Lamp was my companion. She is super spunky and I LOVE HER! Apparently I'm sort of related to her! More connections to Aunt Joy!
So her daughter-in-law, Jeri Lamp, who used to be Jeri Wilde--her sister is married to Aunt Joy's brother, or so I'm told! Crazy, crazy. I love it!!!!
I was asked to teach the gospel principles lesson on developing Talents. That was slightly stressful, since I knew I wouldn't have my companion, but it was AWESOME! Getting people to discuss is the best. And most of the time it brings a strong spirit. Sky was there--SO COOL! Love it when investigators come to church. Funny story: so it was a go go go day on Sunday because we had to get back together as companions after church, eat lunch/study, had two appointments, a dinner appointment and through it all we lost the phone. We started to panic, but tried to keep calm at the same time. We tried knocking on someone's door who we had an appointment with that day, but had no luck. We used the Mahaffeys' iphone to call it, no luck. We called the Elders to let them know not to panic if we don't pick up the phone--we are okay! And then Sister Wardinsky thought it might be in the fridge. Okay, that's random, I thought, and guess what? It was in the fridge. Good times, good times.

the zone, with President and Sister Schmitt

Yesterday was FANTASTIC! Had one of the best zone conferences EVER! It was all about member missionary work, how we can help members, what we can invite them to do, how we can commit them, how we can help them. And let me tell you we can honestly not do this work without the members, so if your missionaries aren't committing you to do something, make them! When they ask "Is there anything we can do for you?" (Classic missionary question) SAY YES! And then ask for help with missionary work! Whether it's with a person or not a certain person, ask for help, make them commit you to do something, adn have them follow up with you! Also--watch the video "I'll Go Where you Want Me to Go," it's FANTASTIC! So inspired. I could go on and on about this conference but I will spare you the details and instead send future emails and let you know the miracles that come from it.
I LOVE YOU ALL!
Know that I'm always cheering for you and I never give up on any of you! (I love you too much!)
Love,
Sister Whitcomb