#20!!

Hola hola hola!!!
Buenos Dias! Ah I can't believe I only saw you a couple days ago... Weird. But it was AWESOME!!! I'm sorry you couldn't see my face but I'm glad you could hear my voice. And shout out to RODGE PODGE for asking an inspired question and making me cry. Kudos. I'm sorry it was scattered and hectic but I appreciated hearing all of your voices. You all made me want to be a better missionary and make these last 6 months be the best they can. I will definitely keep my promise and work my hardest. Prayers are appreciated. :)
This week as a servant of the Lord was a miraculous one. Tuesday night we had power hour and went out with our YSA Relief Society President, Bailie. She's a boss and makes me laugh. I love her, she works so hard and I love working hard with her. The Relief Society is small right now but we are mighty! Great day. Great night. Oh and P.S. there is a new Elder in our zone and he's from Massachusetts! So weird! He's from Acton I believe and he knows the Jeffrey's! He loves the Jeffrey's. Really small world. His name is Elder Newey.
Wednesday. Was my last day as a teenager. Weird, but awesome. My favorite part of the day was when I was able to give a Book of Mormon to my neighbor and testify to her of the truthfulness. I love telling people how much it means to me and how I want to give it to them. Most people appreciate it, she did, and I loved her reaction. She wasn't ready to meet, but I'm excited to see her around. :) We also had our first district meeting as a district. Our new district leader is Elder Clair from Utah. Seems like a good Elder. We had fun setting goals and making plans! We are just ready for the new transfer! :) My goal is to show my love more, definitely don't do that enough, I feel like none of us do. And if we do we need to have more love! But we stopped by one of our favorite families who we've been working with to come to church and Sister Purcell told them it was my birthday the next day and they sang me a song and gave me a cupcake in a jar! It was the cutest thing EVER!!! And what was even better is that they've been keeping commitments. I love when people keep commitments. :)

And for all of you who were unaware, THURSDAY WAS MY BIRTHDAY!! Yes I have the best birthday ever, Cinco De Mayo!!! And I turned the big 2-0. And I discovered that when I put my mouth in an "o" shape and hold my right hand up in a peace sign, it can be the number 20!!! You know exactly what I'll be doing for the rest of the year? Exactly that. It was so weird, so many people asked me how old I was that day, not even knowing it was my birthday, and it was weird to say 20. BUT THANK YOU FOR THE BIRTHDAY PACKAGES AND LETTERS!!!!!! They were much appreciated. :)

Sister Purcell and I especially had fun with the confetti.

But I am the luckiest Sister missionary ever, it rocks. I love you ALL!!! And on the plus side we were able to finish weekly planning! WOOHOO!! Milagros! Rose cancelled, frustrating but we did get to see her on Sunday after I skyped. It was weird to go from such a high and then to see someone at such a low. Very humbling and the spirit was definitely strong. She will be baptized! I have faith. :) But we did finally get to teach some less active families we've been trying for a while so that's AWESOME!!! And it's always a plus when you get to show Hallelujah, the video. on the street and someone actually wants to watch. Not interested, but it was still the best birthday gift ever! And it's even more of a win that before you go to bed you get sang the best rendition of Happy Birthday from the Schmitts! Love those two! They are so sweet. :) And the birthday month continues. ;)

Then Friday we went to Missionary Leadership Council. What an overload. lots of things to do, so many things to improve on, so little time. But thankfully the atonement is real! :) But thankfully the day was made better when we were able to meet with one of our favorite members, Sister Moreau, to teach Gail. What a sweetheart. As Gail opened the door she went, "Hello Family!" Super cute! And I asked her straight out, if the Book of Mormon is true, she said YES!!!! YAYYYYY!!! SND SHE CAME TO CHURCH!!!! I have so much faith that Gail will be baptized on May 28th! We can fight Satan! God is good and way more powerful! Then we got to teach our 9 year old Junior, we also taught him yesterday too! AND HE WENT TO CHURCH ON SUNDAY!!!!! WOOOHOOO!!! I love hearing little kids pray, they are always so sincere. Every time Junior always prays that he will be baptized. And yesterday he told me that he had a dream he was baptized by Jesus Christ. This kid is cool. LOVE HIM!!! Then we went over to Doug and Julie's which is one of my favorite places ever! And they even had birthday cake! To celebrate Doug and my birthdays. Love them! AND HE CAME TO CHURCH ON SUNDAY TOO!!!! WOOOHOOOOO!!!!!!! :):):):)
And then we had our last lesson with Stacey before her baptism. SO TENDER!!!! OH I LOVE HER SO MUCH!!!! And I can't believe she was baptized this past week, it went by solo fast! Saturday, was the best day. THE DAY THAT STACEY GOT BAPTIZED!!!

Such a good service and the cool part was because Stacey has psoriatic arthritis, she needed two people to baptize her. So she asked a man from the ward and then she asked PRESIDENT SCHMITT!!!! So President Schmitt got to be apart of the ordinance. Super cool. The woman that introduced Stacey to the gospel, Suzanne Hoffman, drove all the way from Arizona to speak at her baptism. And she brought these cute decorations for STACEY'S baptism. The food table looked so good! And not just because there were cupcakes and brownies. ;) But Sister Purcell performed "Blessed Be His Name" in the middle and I had the pleasure of accompanying her. Boom. Instant spirit. Good stuff. And we got to walk Stacey back to the font, really cool. She rocks !!! Even though it was slightly stressful to prepare and I might of accidentally stepped in the font with my sock and shoe still on, good times and laughs were had. Especially now looking back.:) We did an inspired power hour where we found someone who was looking for a church and a former investigator. Hopefully news to follow. Then we skyped Sister Purcell's fan bam since they are way ahead, such cool people. They been sang happy birthday to me with their strong Australian accents! I love them! :) AND THEN we were contacting potentials and their was this house that was a blasting Mexican music. I felt prompted to go knock on the door, we did. AND WE FOUND A YSA INVESTIGATOR!!!!!!! MILAGROS!!!
YSA has been struggling as a whole and we've been struggling to add. So it was awesome. His name is Daniel, he sells insurance, I want connection between him and Sister Purcell. We are excited to go back!
AND HAPPY LATE MOTHER'S DAY!! Definitely a powerful one, especially in the branch. I was playing piano for a little bit for the YSA Sacrament Meeting and it was a hard day for Eddie. Eddie lost his mom a couple of years back so just seeing him cry made me cry. He's such a strong amazing guy. And speaking of Eddie.... We met with him yesterday and he had news for us... HE WANTS TO GO ON A MISSION!!!!! Coolest moment of my mission!!!! Ah! It was awesome. :) But also a plus we got roses and cookies in both sacrament meetings, yay for being a female and 18 years or older! ;) But happy late moms day, I love you with all my heart Moma!
AND ALSO STACEY WAS CONFIRMED!!! An awesome confirmation, one filled with the spirit. And she even stayed all three hours. What a champ! Rose came to church too which was awesome! :)
And Monday. The best day because I'm rebooted from partaking of the sacrament. And we definitely were because right as we stepped out of the apartment we taught the restoration. So cool!
We taught this couple and we almost added them but they said they were busy and would call us. SO CLOSE!!! But at least they are one step closer. :)
We taught a less active who is just not ready to keep commitments, so sad. We power houred it up and had a meeting with the Elders to figure out what they wanted us to train at zone meeting. We are training on having the purpose written on our hearts. I'd like to think mine is but I know preparing for this training will only engraven it deeper! :)
Then we had dinner with the cute Sister Whitlock. :) Love her! I LOVE HER SOO MUCH!! I LOVE THESE PEOPLE SO MUCH!!! I LOVE SANTEE SOOO MUCH!!!!
But I especially love this work so much, my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and especially all of you. You all mean everything to me and I hope you know that. :)
I'm cheering for you!
Love,
Sister Whitcomb