With the Cute Chula Vista Sisters and Sister Schmitt!
Fear not! For I bring you good tidings of great joy from the land of Santee! And a lot of love too! There can never be too much love, I've definitely learned that. Everything I do is out of love, but not just love for anyone, it's the love that I have for the Lord that I do these things. The greatest and most important kind of love! This week was full of a lot of love. :)First of all I'll just start out with the love I have for my companion is unreal. Australia is awesome everyone! And the people are even better! Sister Purcell shows her love for me all the time and I don't think I've met a better hugger. She helps me improve, and she's helped me grow a lot. Probably the most since my training. She rocks. I couldn't say enough good things about her! I hope you all get to meet her, and the rest of my companions. They are all equally as awesome!
But Tuesday night. What a night. A very spiritual one for me. We met with Stacey, always a highlight of my day! It was the first lesson since her baptism, and she talked about that night she went to bed and she felt like something was off, not normal. And she realized that for the first time, she had no pain. No pain. God is a god of miracles. She talked about how when they gave her the gift of the Holy Ghost she could physically feel the power of the priesthood in her hands. She said they could have just stood there and not said anything and she would have been fine, it was that strong for her. I hope you all can meet her too, I love her. She's family. Also the power of the priesthood was able to bless my companion and I that same night where our favorite Brother Whitlock agreed to give us blessings, so powerful. And he gave us assignments to do throughout the week. He just had me in tears, what a powerful man. And then on Sunday he approached and gave us two nice folders with a bunch of notes and favorite scriptures that have helped him. He is the best and he definitely exercises and magnifies his priesthood! And I am grateful for it. :)
Then Wednesday it was reconfirmed to me that even one soul is worth everything. So we have been trying to meet with this referral for a long time, Missy. And it finally happened, and she decided to bring her 21 year old son, Sean. So we called our branch mission leader over, Kevan. They both got there and Sean proclaimed to be agnostic and told us four times throughout the lesson what the definition of agnostic is. So we, as the unworthy humans we are, assumed we were there more to help Missy. Boy were we wrong. When we started talking about living prophets, Joseph Smith, and The Book of Mormon, she was not having it. But as she would rebuttal, Sean would defend the church. I think my favorite line from him was, talking to his Mom, "I don't know if this is blasphemous, but what if you just read it?" (referring to The Book of Mormon.) IT WAS AWESOME!!! And he said he would evidently be interested in learning more and coming to church!!!
WOOHOOOOOO!!! Miracles all around.
We also had dinner with an older couple and they brought a friend over who has been less active and when we shared the restoration she really enjoyed us and asked us to come visit her! Another WOOOHOOOO!!! We also were able to do the booth and we tried a new approach where we set up a huge picture of La Jolla Temple and started asking people survey questions, like, "What makes you the most happy?" And transitioned it into the gospel, always. It was awesome and we got so many awesome people who want to meet with us! WOOOHOOOO!!!!! And also the coolest thing, Gail Ward, our investigator, has been coming to church and this group of older women in the ward have just taken her under their wing. Sister Purcell and I like to call them "The Golden Girls." They truly are golden! Six of them put on this lunch for Gail and they had us teach a lesson! It was awesome, they all got to know Gail and Gail really appreciated it!
Missionary dreams do come true! :)
Then Thursday we had another successful day at the booth with the same tactics and the same results. :)
It was sweet!
Then we weekly planned, dinner at the Leavitts who we love and are missionaries! They are always willing to have investigators over for dinner. :) And both of our wards had a Relief Society activity the same night, in the same building, at the same time! So easy and fun to hop from both of them and meet new people and get to know the friends they brought, great stuff! Next time you have an activity, bring a friend! It will make the missionaries day, but most importantly the Lord's and that is who really matters!
Friday. CRAZY TIMES. I truly felt like a Sister Training Leader that day. Right after our studies we got a call from these sisters asking if they could go on an exchange. To say the least, I enjoyed the day in Chula Vista, gave a lot of hugs, and listened a lot. People have hard lives, and missions just make it a teensy bit stressful. I'm grateful for the specific calling that I'm in right now where I can provide counsel and comfort. It's awesome.
Saturday.
What a day, after we tried to figure out what was going on with the sisters, Sister Purcell and I drove off to teach a YSA. It's sad to see what Satan will do to these people, but I know the Lord sends us to fortify and strengthen them! We also had a wonderful lunch with a YSA member and helped her do missionary work. We did some service in another jungle for a potential investigator we found through a street contact and she has been to the Mormon church, raised on it for a little bit. Just never joined. Not yet anyways! :) That will be a fun project! Then we met with a part member family, the Delgados, sweet people who have a lot of questions. Man it was just one after the other, boom, Boom, BOOM!!! And tiny miracle we were finally able to meet with Junior, right outside his house. He was a little distracted but we learned he reads from The Book of Mormon for children when he is in the car! He's awesome, he says the sweetest prayers! He didn't come to church and missed his appointment yesterday, but still an awesome kid!
Sunday was really draining. But really awesome. I had an amazing experience partaking of the Sacrament and I was in YSA this week while Sister Purcell was in Grossmont, splits every Sunday! And I got to go to a linger longer! Love those things! And YSA is just fun, and it made me so happy to see a lot of recent converts there! :)
GAIL CAME TO CHURCH!!! Only two more weeks til her baptism, May 28th here we come!!!!!!! :) :) :) :) And she's so excited to go to the Temple! YAY!
We are hoping to go to the Mormon Battalion with her on Friday. Then after high wards we zoomed over to Elijah's, a less active YSA, Zane had a really cool lesson where his Sister even sat in and he testified to her about the Book of Mormon and the restoration. It was awesome! Then we zoomed over to lunch/dinner with the Hoffmans! Love that cute family! And then we zoomed over to Poway for the Mission President's Devotional! It was so fun, I was able to accompany the choir on the piano and the flute! I haven't played the flute in a year! But it was awesome and really uplifting for me to play it. On the flute I performed with the choir, Love One Another. She had me do a verse a cappella, then with the piano, then with the choir, a fancy part. Then I accompanied some Elders singing and then one of her then Sister Purcell. She CRUSHED it! So proud, she sang "Blessed Be His Name." Spirit was strong. And the testimonies were equally as strong. Love those!
Then Monday was our first MTE! (Missionary Training Experience, where we get some training, go on exchanges with the sisters to apply it and then the next day return and report.) I was able to be with Sister Atwood in Santee! I think the coolest miracle we saw was when Junior's appointment fell through, we went to go try a less active family, and all of a sudden, BOOM, Rose, our Investigator who we haven't been able to get in contact with or see and she didn't show up to church, was right there! It was crazy! God must really love her, and he loves us too!
We were able to read a little bit from The Book of Mormon with her and testify of its truthfulness, set a return appointment, and she should be on the uphill! :) :) :) :)
Tender mercy.
With my favorite Canadian, Sister Atwood!
Another funny moment was when we saw this purse just sprawled on the side of the road, looked like someone had stolen it, gone through it, and left it. So we tried to see fit here was a phone number, and found one. She's a Jehovah's Witness! Nice woman. She was very grateful! We also taught Eddie, who is preparing to go on a mini mission! He said by the end of the year.YAYYYY!!! Then met with Vanessa too, she's still one of my favorites and such a sweetheart!
Some of my favorite tidbits of knowledge from this past couple days of training was:
-"…the crowning characteristic of love is always loyalty…"
-"Missionary work is a labor of love."
-"I will do anything to sustain the prophets of God." - President Schmitt
-"Preparation is everything
-"Don't do the comfortable thing, always extend invitations."
-Be bold with yourself.
-You don't have to convince anyone, the Lord is preparing people ahead of us.
Know that I love you and that I'm cheering for you!
Love,
Sister Whitcomb
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