This week has been great, per the usual, and we only have a week left tip the transfer is over!!
Sad day.
It has been a longer transfer because the last one was a week shorter due to Christmas. And I'm so grateful, because being with Sister Pilkington is the best. YSA is the best and so is being in a family ward. Like President told me, I live the best of both worlds!! Hannah Montana's got nothing on me!!!
Sooo this week. Starting with Tuesday evening, we street contacted before our awesome YSA activity. And right before it started our investigator Eddie texted us and asked what activities the branch was doing tonight. And we were splitting up and going to find and visit people who we haven't seen in a while. We told him that and he asked if he could come. So of course we said yes! He loved it! It was really cool to see how much he has changed and he's already living the gospel so much! It was a great night.
Then Wednesday morning we had a wonderful broadcast for the missionaries all around the world. It was fantastic. All about teaching repentance and baptizing converts!!!! And man, is that happening! But two things I took away from it and I'm really trying to apply are helping the investigator recognize what the spirit is instead of them sharing an experience and me just telling them what it is. It's more powerful when they have that realization for themselves. And to also really intently listen to my companion while she's speaking, or to whomever is speaking, not to be thinking about what I'll say next or what to do, but just listen. That's how the spirit works. They said the most important missionary is one that is listening. They might have observed something the talking missionary did not. I should be better. I tend to zone out but I'm doing a lot better! It was Elder Bednar who brought it up and it was comforting to hear him say he's done it too. These apostle are legitimate. We were able to hear from Elder Bednar, Elder Anderson, Sister Oscarson, Elder Clayton, and another brother. All very insightful and something that will definitely help this mission move forward.
After the broadcast we had a lesson on the Holy Ghost. The broadcast had perfect timing. We were able to apply what was taught. We were teaching Eddie about the Holy Ghost and just listening and the through the power of the scriptures we were able to help him identify the spirit and he now has a BAPTISMAL DATE FOR FEBRUARY 20th!!!!!!!!!! Oh man he is so COOL!!
I've never seen someone so humbled, it was amazing! The gospel is true and it changes everyone, if you accept i, you can't force it on people, you can only introduce it to them. It's up to them to accept and I'm so happy Eddie has!! We also taught Jake, the recent convert, and he went to the temple on Friday!!! We weren't able to go because he didn't bring a family name but he went with some YSA and he said he loved it and it was amazing! He said he can't wait to go through the whole thing! The temple works miracles. Jake said he had always dreamed of going inside but he couldn't believe he was actually able to. I'm so happy for him! The temple rocks!!!!
We also got to teach Vanessa, our Spanish/American investigator. We invited the Hermanas to come (Sisters that speak Spanish). We taught on the atonement and it was powerful. We just wanted Vanessa to have the option of going to the Spanish or English congregations yet. She speaks both fluently. She hasn't decided yet... But she came to church on Sunday, our ward, so we might still be teaching her!!!! It was an awesome Spanglish lesson. We also saw our investigator Derek who is dating a member. We taught him the restoration and he expressed the desire of wanting to be sealed to his girlfriend! That's awesome, not everyone has that desire but I am so happy he does! This church ROCKS!!!!
We also had a super late dinner with a nonmember that night. It was interesting to say the least. Good times with tacos. And I don't think I ever mentioned it but I had a cold and passed it on to Sister P at the end of December and because of her exercise induced asthma she had a VERY bad cough. Like VERY bad. And she started to get over it but then she'd always tell me her ribs hurt, so we called Sister Schmitt who is a doctor and the mission nurse. They had us set an appointment with the missionary doctor. We went there on Thursday and found out that her rib is either sprained or cracked! They didn't want to x-ray it because it would be treated the same either way and they didn't want to unnecessarily expose her to radiation. But she's sneezed a couple times and heard pops, so I would assume if it wasn't cracked it is now. Don't worry I won't let her bend down or carry anything. She ices it every morning and puts heat on it every night. Nurse Whitcomb in action!!!!
But Thursday was also amazing because we had interviews with President Schmitt!! He's a great man and I'm always all smiles when I meet with them. We talked about what I'm going to apply since the missionary training and I asked him how I could help the sisters I'm over. It was a very sacred experience, one I'll forever remember.
Eddie called us and asked if we could read with him which was a tender mercy because we are low on miles. Instead of wandering around trying to find someone to teach, we got to read with Eddie! It was legit. The Book of Mormon is true! Read it. We also got to teach Taylor. I love her so much!
Then Friday we planned. We couldn't do it on Thursday due to the doctor's visit. It was good though because we were able to use time wisely as Sister P rested. We had coordinations with our branch/ward mission leaders and then Friday night we started our exchange with the Hillsdale and Jamul sisters!!! (Because the broadcast was on Wednesday we did it on Friday)
HILLSDALE AND JAMUL WERE MY FIRST AREAS SO I WAS EXCITED!!! Because I got to go back to HILLSDALE AND JAMUL!!! AHHHH!!! And what was even better, I got to be with Sister 'Eukaliti!!!!! She was Sister Wardinsky's companion after I left the area. She's the best! She's from Tonga and loves this work! I've never seen such a hard working sister! It was so awesome to see the Mahaffeys again! When we were coming back for the night Elder Mahaffey locked us out so we rang the doorbell and he came and open it and was so surprised to see me! It was so cute. He just gave me a big hug... classic Elder Mahaffey! He and Sister Mahaffey kept on saying how good I looked, so sweet of them! I love them a lot! :) And have no fear, Sister 'E and I took a selfie with Tippy the cat. He's getting big!
At the Mahaffeys with Tippy and Sister 'E
Probably because of all the baby rabbits he's eating! But it was great. These Sisters are rocking it!! They have new investigators and are working with some I did. But we got to go to the Mormon Battalion with SISTER KRAGE!!! She is the best and I love her a lot! She even fed us a healthy dinner at the end. I love seeing these people that I love!We taught one of their investigators Kevin, he's cool. And he will be baptized on February 13th!! When we invited him we invited him to be baptized on the 20th, but he's like "Why so late?" It was awesome. I love people! We then were able to teach one of their new investigators and a recent convert! I love it all so much. Too much joy to be found! We switched back Saturday night.
Then Sunday. Game day. A great day! Eddie, Stephanie, Julie, and Vanessa all came! I stayed in YSA this time. It's always a blast. I love all the people we teach. They rock! And might I just say Julie is the best! Sister P and I were able to go to young women's with her. She rocks! She was participating. And we found out that this past week she went to her first stake youth dance!!! AHHHHHHHH!!!!!! How cool is that? She's the best!!! I wish Emily could come up here and dance with her! That would be so funny. She's also coming to mutual activities!! And she's in skits that the youth are doing! I LOVE HER activities!! And she's in skits that the youth are doing! I LOVE HER SOO MUCH!! We taught her that night, and she rocks! We also taught her last night and then read through The Book of Mormon with her. She's awesome. She likened it so well to herself and even inserted her name in some of the verses! I'm so excited for February 13th!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Then yesterday we also taught Eddie and it was really cool. He opened up to us a lot and talked about how he didn't know where he would be if it wasn't for us, but little does he know it's the gospel! I really haven't done anything! It's all the Lord! Can't take any credit! But it was sweet, he even cried. Emotions rock! But on a funny note he calls Sister Pilkington and I, Sister Whilkom and Sister Pilkinsin. I love it so much! Nicknames are the best! And the funny part is that's just how he pronounces our names. It's the best! We also got to teach a past street contact named Gabriel. He is SOOO funny!! And the funny part was we taught at a Starbucks. First lesson at a Satrbucks, but hey, it's still a lesson and it rocked! He wants to learn more so I'm pumped! (Especially for the word of wisdom lesson.) ;)
The seniors in the stake put on another lunch for the missionaries in the stake so we went to that, so sweet! That night we also entered into a jungle. The house literally had a jungle in front of it. And it was late at night and all the lights were off. It was pitch dark. Was I slightly scared? Yes. Did a cat jump out of a tree and scare me? Yes. And were there many NO TRESPASSING signs? Yes. Did we trespass anyway? Yes. Sister P knocked on the door as I was cutting the circulation off to her hand.
All of a sudden we heard a voice. I heard "GET OFF MY LAND!" As soon as I heard that I started running. But then Sister P grabbed me and said that he said he was just coming. So I came back and the door opened and we saw no one. But we heard a voice and started talking to him. We learned he was investigating but things happened. So we invited him to church, he came out to shake our hands and he had these HUGE eyes. He was basically Albert Einstein.
And he started telling us how he has no utilities and he just walks around his house with a flashlight. He tells us we can come back during the day. We left and got in the car and Sister P tells me that she realized that the man was the one who the ward mission leader told us to stay away from.
Cool.
I guess we won't be going back!
Oh man.
Good times in the jungle.
I love missionary life. I love laughing at myself and I especially love all of YOU! Keep rocking it and be careful whenever you go into a jungle! :)
Love,
Sister Whitcomb
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