...a simple talk...

Greetings from the promised land! :)

Beautiful is the work here in Santee! And these 2 Sister missionaries

are pressing forward with steadfast faith in Christ! I love all of

you, I appreciate the faithful emailers and letter writers. Where love

is, I know you'll be there! :) And the spirit will be with you too!

Thankfully the spirit was with us as we traveled through Santee,

sometimes blindly. ;)

But Tuesday night was glorious. President has recently emphasized the

importance of personal daily contact when someone has a baptismal date

in 2 weeks, and so we are doing it with Gail. BECAUSE HER BAPTISM IS

ON SATURDAY!!!!!!!!!! Can you believe it? Crazy stuff. I can't believe

a simple talk at someone's trunk of their car, can lead to Baptism! We

were talking to Gail and she couldn't believe it either. Satan truly

hits hard right before baptism, and hard he has hit. It's so hard to

watch her struggle and be so sad. So ma y things have happened to her

but I love her for her willingness to adapt and overcome and press

forward. We will get her to Saturday! Prayers would always be

appreciated. :) But the members have been awesome and I know even

amongst Gail's scary life, she has a home here! So we met with her

briefly and then the activity day girls, the girls in the church ages

8-11, had asked us to come be and answer a few questions about

missionary life. It was very cute, so many fun questions and we got to

know them all very well. And even better their were 2 Unbaptized girls

there. It was nice we had an opportunity to bear our testimonies. This

church is AWESOME!! Then we went over to Staceys. She amazes me!

Usually when people are hit with trials, it's before baptism, hers are

after. Because of the decision she has made many friends have left her

and not said such nice remarks. She has held strong and responded with

the upmost maturity and spirit. She's awesome and she has totally

transformed before my eyes, it's a miracle! And I know if she wouldn't

have had this physical trial, she wouldn't have found the gospel, she even

said it herself. And she's very grateful for it! :) And so am I.

Wednesday. Crazy busy, IT WAS AWESOME! We did our last day at the

booth because finals are this week and summer is coming! So the flow

of traffic at the institute has slowed down and will stop. But we went

out victorious! We talked to many people but the one that stands out

is Tyrone, I stop him by asking what makes him the most happiest. And

we get into this conversation how he's a dancer and life makes him

happy and I somehow transition it into the gospel and I could just see

his countenance change before me. :) We are excited to talk to him

after finals end. Then we prepared to give training on how to extend

invitations on The Book of Mormon and prayer for MTEs. Sadly Rose and

Sean cancelled on us. We had to drop Rose because she is just not

communicating with us and she didn't come to church. We love her and

miss her. But Sean came to the YSA activity that night, sports night!

And as we were driving away we saw hi just hitting it off with the

YSA, made us smile. :) We then did service for our high priest group

leader, Brother Bostic. He had reverse shoulder surgery and can't do

yard work. So we got to weed and trim hedges, always good for the

soul. :)

Thursday. MTES!!!! It was actually MTES for our zone and then for 3 of

the Sisters we are over. Craziness! But it always makes me a better

missionary. Our training went really great and it's always nice to

have missionaries walk up to you and say you helped them receive

revelation. 3 cheers for making a difference! But I was fortunate

enough to stay in Santee and be with Sister Eging.

Sister Eging is

currently serving in Hillsdale/Jamul!!!!! My home!! :) She is a temple

square sister and is on her outbound. She's from Virginia, Falfax I

believe she said, near DC. SHES AWESOME!! We just started teaching

right away as I treated her to a California burrito. To these 2 sweet

women, they loved us, but weren't quite interested in the message that

we were sharing. BUT I did learn how gentle of a teacher Sister Eging

is. Instant spirit, it amazes me!

We then got to teach a bunch of

recent converts including DJ, who has cool green hair. Good guy. We

then drove out to Lakeside to contact a referral, who is interested,

just busy. I then felt prompted to walk up to the neighbors house and

we started to talk to Octavio. He is from Mexico, has been to an LDS

church before, and traveled all the way to his home in Mexico to give

his family a Book of Mormon. He was an awesome referral for the

Hermanas! After dinner we taught our tracking miracle, Daniel. He

finally took a copy of The Book of Mormon! HALLELUJAH!! I'm telling

you, Sister Egings gentle voice, works miracles! We then went over to

teach 2 less active families. One was really chaotic, the other

spiritual. Love to hear people's testimonies of how the priesthood can

bless and in their case, save life's! As we were on the way back to

our apartment, we street contacted a man who has been to a family home

evening before, Hector. We are excited to teach him. God is amazing!

Friday we had MTE follow up and got to hear all the amazing miracles!

And President Schmitt is a amazing disciple of Jesus Christ, as is his

lovely wife, Sister Schmitt. She just had surgery the day before and

then the next day she just walked into our MTE follow up, she's so

amazing, inspiring. This was also a go go go day! We did power hour in

El Cajon with the executive secretary of the YSA, Andrew, he's fun. We

saw a lot of miracles! Got a referral for the Arabic elders, the

Hermanas, and the Bostonia elders. Marie. Marie is from Rhode Island

and is going through and hard time. We just bounded since we are both

from the east coast and she just instantly trusted me. She misses it

so I told her I would put her in my suitcase when I go home. She keeps

reminding me about it. :) But she is struggling and needs the gospel,

we introduced her to the Elders the next day and the pass off lesson

went really well. She has touched me heart and I was grateful to of

been a part in this process for her. Then we went to the Mormon

Battalion with Gail and our member Sister Creemens! She loved it!

And

I always do, makes my day! Visitor centers are just awesome. (shout

out to Sister Parsons! :)) And the picture I'll attach below, Gail

doesn't like to smile for some reason. Haha but she's so sweet! Later

at night we got to meet with Julie and I am just blown away at how

mature she is! Everything we talk about, she totally understands but

not just understands, lives, even when her family does not sometimes.

I love her.

Saturday. We finally squeezed in weekly planning. And we were also

able to squeeze in Stacey for lunch, she took us to get real Mexican

food. It was so fun! I love Stacey! I hope all of you will meet her

someday, she makes me laugh and cry! :) Gail passed her baptismal

interview that day with soaring colors! When our district leader

walked out he shook her hand and smiled and said, "Just remember,

you're an amazing and very special person." It was very touching. And

we finally got to meet with a less active,, he's an Uncle of an Elder

who is serving in the mission. He is coming back to church after 20

years, he bought a Book of Mormon on his own and started praying!

That's every missionary's dream to hear that! :)

Then Sunday, what a holy day. Gail came to church 30 minutes early!

She's awesome. :) Stacey was there, and Vanessa, John, Anthony, DJ,

Denver, Eddie, so many recent converts it made my heart swell! :) Then

after church we ran over to teach a less active YSA, who lives in our

family Ward boundaries. We walk in and her Mom sits in with us, she's

a nonmember. And she was very participative! AND SO WE FOUND A NEW

INVESTIGATOR!!! HALLELUJAH!!!! :):):):):)::) I always squeal after we

get in the car when we find a new investigator, just ask Sister

Purcell. :) I'm excited for her and she said when she comes to know

these things are true she would be baptized! WOOHOOO!!!

Monday. Are always the best! So refreshed from Sunday and ready to see

Miracles! We started off by doing service for the Whitlocks neighbors,

our cute older friends. Their friends name is Darlene and she had

lupus. She's in a lot of pain and we were able to help her move stuff

around, she's still,unpacking from moving. The Whitlocks have been

very helpful to her and they suggested that we go help her and she

accepted! And at the end she asked if we  could come back and the. We

asked if we could share a message. She said she had been wanting to

hear about The Book of Mormon! So Brother Whitlock was able to give

her a Book of Mormon with his testimony in it. :) Then we had lunch

with them since they are going to Colorado for the summer. We will

miss them dearly! But at lunch we challenged them to think of someone

who could use the Plan of Salvation. They accepted the challenge. Not

too long later we got a call from Brother Whitlock saying their

neighbors wife just passed away and he wouldn't mind a visit! These 2

just rock!!!! We met with Eddie for his last lesson, he is just on

fire! He watched all of the district episodes. He is awesome!  And

totally awesome news! On Sunday we got a text from the Lake side

Elders saying they had talked to a TAYLOR MCDANIEL!!!!! And that she

wanted us to get in contact with her so she can get back to church!

FYI Taylor is my first convert from way back when and we thought she

had moved to La Mesa.... So we tried her on Monday! I saw her Mom, but

she said Taylor was sleeping. We will get her! I love her so. :) But

in the mean time we have 2 referrals for the Lakeside Elders!

WOOHOO!!! We the. Brought Stacey to meet Gail, Stacey rocked it! She

just needs a name tag and Gail loved her! I love these 2 women and now

they know each other. Life complete! :) Then in the last hour of the

night we went to go welcome a new move in into the Ward. We walk in,

and see she has a husband, he's a hoot! John. He's an older man with

all the stories! We find our he's very religious, has had 3 near death

experiences, and he's been to church but he has not been taught by the

missionaries! What? THEY SAID WE COULD TEACH HIM!!! Woohoo, he's a

sweetheart! I'm excited! See, repentance is possible at any age! :)

And also we had s fun night. We finished planning, all was well, and

then the phone rang. President Schmitt. That's when the hearts start

beating loudly. He called us and told us their is a Sister from the

Phillipines who just got her VISA and is coming to the mission! She

has been serving their for 6 months and he wanted her to join us for

the next 3 weeks. Oh boy! Trio life for me! We were suppose to pick

her up at the airport at 1 pm, we got there, met President Schmitt,

and waited. Nothing. We are in the process of trying to figure out

where she is. Prayers appreciated. But we know she's in the Lords

hands, possibly stuck in customs. I will let you know next week!! So

exciting!

I love you all. And most importantly I know the Lord loves you ALL.

Never forget, always thank him and put your FULL faith in him. Keep

going, I'm cheering for you!

Love, Sister Whitcomb