The Book of Mormon: A Miraculous Miracle

Dearest Loved ones,

Did you know you could receive a lot of revelation in one week? HOLY COW!!! God is good and he still loves me! (Thank goodness ;)) But man oh man! First off, congrats to my friend and cousin, NOW SISTER ORTON!!!! GOING ON A MISSION!!! It's literally the best thing ever, you will love it cuz! Just like I love YOU! You rock. Never forget. :)
BUT anyways, Poway is CRAZY! And a very rich area, but even though it's a rich area, the people are so nice! Even when we get rejected, I've never met such nice people as they are denying us! And this past week I have found true joy in seed planting because we have been using The Book of Mormon A LOT more. So even though Sister Stirland and I aren't together as companions, we are still both Sister Training Leaders and as such President Schmitt asked us if we could give training on The Book of Mormon and the Atonement. It was tricky to get together but SO worth it. I have a lot more love for The Book of Mormon then I thought was ever possible! Just think about it. This book was prepared by a loving Heavenly Father far beyond 600 BC. That's a long time to wait to get the Book of Mormon published. And even getting it published took a lot of sacrifice and getting out to everyone took a lot of peoples life's. I have a deeper love and respect for the prophet Joseph Smith. Truly praise to the man. The training on Friday went pretty good, I hope the missionaries understood the importance of The Book of Mormon and how they need to use it in EVERYTHING they do. I am now determined to read a small part of The Book of Mormon at least 5 times a day! Right as I wake up, at breakfast, at lunch, at dinner time, and before I go to bed. It's truly been amazing, you should try it! I just read a small column. Totally doable and it changes your whole day! And at zone conference we totally dissected the first 14 pages of The Book of Mormon to see why they are so important and why Heavenly Father wants it to be the first thing we read! So cool, so much evidence of revelation and how important it is. We need a prophet today! God works through revelation, he never will stop. The Book of Mormon is living proof. The Book of Mormon is why I'm happy, it's why I'm on a mission and I know it will be the "why" for a lot of the events in my life. Make sure to keep it in yours! 

My Cute companion doing service :) 

But anyway, back to the Poway area! I am honestly going to miss these 3 crazy family wards! The members are sooooo fantastic! They were just giving us referrals left and right! And with a lot of them we got to leave Book of Mormons with! When we do power hour we usually pray with members before hand and then we ask them who they know in the area might need a visit. One of the members referred us to their neighbors who recently had a death in the family. One of the daughters answered the door, shes in her 30s or so. We started talking and then I got to relate my experience of experiencing my Grandpas death on the mission and how I know I'm going to see him again. It was a very cool experience one that had us nearly in tears. We then testified of The Book of Mormon, read a verse with her and she really enjoyed it! She wasn't ready to meet, but as we were walking outside the house we saw a man in a car and we started talking to him. Turns out it was her brother! And we got to give him a Book of Mormon too! They are just a cool prepared family who now have 2 copies of The Book of Mormon in their house with Mormon neighbors. The Lord loves them. :) 

Then on Wednesday we had an exchange with Sister Cortello and Sister Marz! Man I love those 2 Sisters, both so funny and such hard workers. I had the privilege of being with Sister Marz in BLACK MOUNTAIN!!! Man I miss Black Mountain. Truly was a great 2 transfers for me. BUT I got to go back and I had dinner with the Fislers! And he got to show me his published book. He's awesome! It's on the Atonement. You should look it up, his name is Dave P. Fisler. He's awesome! It was really cool to see Sister Marz grow during the day. It's really hard for her to talk to people, complete strangers. BUT Sister Marz conquered her fear! By the end of the day I saw such improvement. Always makes you proud and feel good. :) But at the end of the night we got to talk to this really cool African woman. We showed her the Hallelujah video, she accepted a copy of a large print Book of Mormon, big deal. :) She didn't want to meet with missionaries but she said she would read it. We've been getting that a lot lately........... But I'm glad they at least have a copy of The Book of Mormon! In the Lords hands now! We also got 2 Farse referrals, Milagros! Maybe I do have the gift of tongues. ;) 

Service with cool farmer hats :) 

But also I am very grateful for these 2 weeks with Sister Kratzer. She has really humbled me, she helped me identify my weaknesses, with love of course, and we just grew a lot together. It is not fun to be humbled but it is so necessary, so if it ever happens to you, don't run from it, embrace it! 

ALSO UPDATE FROM SANTEE!!! MARCO IS GETTING BAPTIZED ON SATURDAY!!!! I am so amazed with him. Only weeks ago we street contacted him, he's changed his whole life since then. Seriously. I love that guy. Sister Purcell called me one night and she said that Marco asked if I could play the piano. Great guy! And then he asked her if I could play in English because he's only see me play at a Spanish mission presidents devotional.... HAHA! I died. :) Apparently he has been going to EVERY single activity and guess what, HE ASKED EDDIE TO BAPTIZE HIM!!! oh so cool! My recent convert will baptize my other recent convert! Sister Purcell said Eddie was beaming! How cool is that? :)I love Marco Polo. :) 

Climbing that hill 

I have come to learn that I will do anything for the people I teach. Including scaling a 40 ft dirt steep hill. We were trying to find an investigator. We will do anything for them! It was a cool physical testament for me. We were trying to find Steve, Steve does not have a home. We saw his camp site. It made me very grateful. Now Steve is being checked into a VA Hospital. Very sad we won't be able to see him again but VERY good for him. He's on the right path, proud of him!

ALSO we had a cool miracle with the coolest Sisters ever! You remember Sister Carlson? I hope so because I mention her like every letter! WELL she was the coolest MTC companion ever and she is now in La Jolla with Sister Essymba from Africa. And they contacted this family of 10 from the Ivory Coast. And they came to our ward on Sunday! It was very hectic but Heavenly Father is perfect so everything worked out in the end. :) She came with 2 of her kids, they are adorable! And they also only speak French, thank goodness our Bishop is from Switerzland! Seriously, he's awesome. But we were able to help them and they TOTALLY felt the spirit. Soon a family of 10 will be sealed for time and all eternity. :) Probably in Temecula though because that's where they are trying to live. 

Oh! And on Sunday Binbin came! So that made it wonderful, but 7 hours of church is always wonderful! 7 hours of blessings as President Schmitt would day! :) And even though we got rejected the rest of the night, I still got to look up at the beautiful stary sky and think why am I so lucky? I truly am. I love the gospel. Elder Holland is right, I need to soak up every minute! 

Monday went by SO fast. We did service, helped a Farse class, gave away a Farse Book of Mormon and to end the night we gave a Book of Mormon to this awesome girl. After I explained The Book of Mormon Sister Kratzer asked her, "What if God sent us here to you to give you this book?" Then Linda said she would get tingles. Tingles were felt. :) And I might or not of killed a spider with my shoe in front of her before we left. BUT HEY she felt the spirit. :) And I protected her from a spider, win win. :) 

And now I go off to Mt. Woodson with Sister Stirland! I am ready for this exciting adventure to learn, to love, and to grow! I will miss Sister Kratzer but she is going to be an amazing trainer! We got to see the new sisters today and had a mini transfer meeting. (And Sister Carlson and Essymba are training :)) I was just beaming looking at all the Sisters. I love them all.

I love you all!  You are always in my prayers, my thoughts, and in my heart! I LOVE YOU!!!

Love, Sister Whitcomb

Work Till the Last Minute

Family,

Just wow. Life is awesome! Missionary work is fun and I'm trying to

work my hardest till the very last minute of everyday, and God is

answering my prayers!

Let me tell you, something about Temple square sisters. They just have
the spirit so strongly and it's no different with Sister Kratzer.
She's probably the boldest missionary I've ever met. She's so open and
honest with people and just walks right up to them, I've learned a
lot. She's going to be an awesome trainer! She's been out for a year,
she's in a military family so she was born in the Bay Area (in California) but came
from Alaska to her mission. I admire her. I as well really love Poway
thus far. Covering 3 family wards is CRAZY, but always a good crazy.
:) The members are just hungry for missionary work and the strangers
that we talk to on the street are almost all very friendly. So nice!
But let's get down to the good stories. Tuesday night was crazy! We
were invited to the mission home for dinner because we were picking up
a mini missionary to be with Sister Stirland. The new missionaries
were there as well and guess who I saw...2 missionaries who were at one
time in the Springfield Massachusetts Stake! Elder Daniel Smith and
Hermana Richardson. CRAZY! I had to take a double take, I couldn't
believe they were there in front of my face with a name tag on! It
made me VERY happy none the less. Massachusetts is flooding San Diego!
;)

Let me tell you Poway is the northest part of the mission, a little
ways away. But we got to work right away by meeting some of the church
leaders and street contacting. In the area that I'm in I actually live
with members, really nice, and as we were moving our stuff in we
started talking to our neighbors. They referred us to a man whose wife
had just passed away. We went to knock on his door and a very
depressed man was standing before us. It broke my heart, we shared how
we wanted to share a message of peace and comfort and with a cracked
and sad voice he said it wasn't a good time. But Sister Kratzer being
the amazing missionary she is, bore a powerful testimony and asked if
we could say a prayer. She then said the most spiritual prayer ever!
Tears all around, even from him! We then said a prayer of gratitude right after
for that experience and right as I said amen, these light beams from a
car were right on us! Strong message from Heavenly Father, we go over
to talk to this YSA. We ended up giving him a Book of Mormon and
invited him to be baptized. He said maybe and was not quite interested
to meet yet. He has The Book of Mormon though, all will be well.
Wednesday we walked and walked and walked. I definetly know I worked
my hardest that day and we literally talked to EVERYONE. No one passed
us by. We have been practicing our Spanish a lot! We are a sight to be
seen!

We also ran into Dan, he lives right above a member and we asked
him for directions and started to talk to him about the gospel. He is
going through hard family times, very hard times. So sad. And
apparently his 8 1/2 year old son has talked to missionaries before,
he's sat in some discussions! He welcomed us back the next day with a
cool home and ice water. We had a great discussion and even though he
claimed to be a hopeful agnostic he said a beautiful prayer at the
end. He then came to a Ward pool party 2 days later, he was speaking
German with the Bishop, he's been reading The Book of Mormon and
applying it to himself and he came to church! He literally just fell
into our lap and he is so willing to keep commitments! He accepted the
invitation to be baptized but doesn't feel like he's in a stable
situation to accept a date. Fair enough, someday though. And soon. The
Ward just surrounded him too, it was awesome! Dan is a good man.

Even though triple covering is hard it does have its benefits of lunch
and dinner appointments! So many members, so little time. ;) And
several times members have serenaded us during dinner and lunch,
living the life! :) And Poway is just literally full of green lights,
physically and spiritually. Many prayers have been uttered while we've
been here and many of them have been answered. In role playing we were
able to practice simplifying the restoration in a minute and we got to
practice it a lot on people! We even gave away a Book of Mormon and
left him with a chapter to read. It was very cool. We also went over
to a members house to help her move, and I've never seen so many
Pillsbury dough boys, everywhere. Kitchen supplies, dining, living
room. Everything. And I thought I had seen it all. Nay.

And also my
testimony is strengthened of having lessons in members homes. The
Sisters have been teaching a man named Steve, he is currently without
a home but is being fellowshipped by a member who is also without a
home. I have seen Steve change so much in the last couple of days. We
had a lesson with him at our Ward Mission leaders home, Brother Weeks.
Super cool, we watched the video, "Hope of Gods light" which applied
to him EXACTLY. We then helped him realize the way to start over was
through baptism. HE COMMITTED FOR A DATE OF JULY 16!!!! YAYYY Steve!!!
In order to help him reach this we all decided to fast together. So on
Saturday at 4 pm to Sunday at 4 pm we fasted. We even conferenced
called to start the fast. Very powerful, one of the most powerful
fasts yet.  He came all nicely dressed to church and seemed great! He
was very hungry but great. :) Then last night we had one of the most
powerful lessons yet at Brother Weeks home again. Steve said since the
fast he has received clarity, spiritually and physically. Awesome. We
then talked about the power of The Book of Mormon and to help him to
that we are starting a group text with members about what we read from
The Book of Mormon each day. It's gonna be awesome! Steve is awesome.
I'm excited for him.
We are also teaching Binbin Wong. She's from China and she doesn't
want to meet with Mandarin sisters so here we are! She was introduced
to the church from a member in our Ward and they help her understand
when she doesn't fully understand. And on gospel principles she
announced, to our surprise, she wants to be a member of our church!
Wahoo!
Also on Saturday we had this amazing power hour where we found another
YSA and taught him a great Restoration. We had a lot of questions and
we committed him to be baptized and read Alma 32. As we were walking
away we saw him reading from The Book of Mormon. Best feeling EVER! We
told the YSA sisters to call him ASAP and now they have a potential appt. on
Friday! Yahoo!!! Saturday was also the day of the fast and Ward pool
party. So hard to say no to all that food! ;) And it was super awkward
to stand next to a pool..... BUT Dan was there so it was worth it!
Sunday was amazing and exhausting and all things in between. Have any
of you been to 7 hours of church? No break? Well I can check that off
my bucket list now. And we didn't even have Ward councils because of
Fathers Day. Splits are a real thing and members were so helpful so we
could make it to all sacrament meetings, Sunday school classes, and
Relief Society. It was AWESOME! All while fasting. And THEN we drove
real fast to the mission presidents devotional in Spanish. It was my
privilege again to play the piano for the choir and a special musical
number. And guess what?? MARCO WAS THERE!!! That's right, Marco from
Santee! I was so happy to hear him! He doesn't speak Spanish but he
had a translator, it was so cool of him to make that effort! He went
to church and he's so excited to be baptized! Ah, I love Santee. And
it was awesome when President and Sister Schmitt sang with heir 2 kids
teach me to walk in the light. In Spanish. Talented family. Love them!
And Monday. The day it was above 100 degrees almost all day. Water and
sun screen are real! And I can now proclaim myself a survivor! We did
some service, met with Dan and Steve and the Sisters investigator
Cheryl. They haven't seen her in a while so it was good to recommit
her to The Book of Mormon. Always a good thing. :)
Man family, I am just so blessed. I love where I serve, I love the
people I serve with and I especially love all of you! Never forget.
And make sure to open The Book of Mormon everyday and listen after
every prayer you ever utter. He loves you, I love you. I'm cheering
for you!


Love, Sister Whitcomb

To my all dearest loved ones! 

Leaving my cute home 

Transfer day! Wowie wow wow. Today was the day I had to leave Santee. Seriously has become one of my favorite places of all places!!! I love the people, all of them. It broke my heart a little to leave all of them but I know I will be back! I don't know when, I just know I will be! And I am being transferred to the great lands of POWAY!!! I am originally assigned to serve in the Mt. Woodson YSA ward as a Sister Training Leader with Sister Stirland, she's from Highland, UT. She actually originally was serving in the Mormon Battalion but she's on her "outbound." I'm excited to serve with her!! BUT all of the new missionaries who are suppose to come into today, just the Sisters had to stay behind in the MTC to get some extra shots. SO I'm going to be on a 2 week or so assignment with Sister Kratzer who is on her outbound from Temple Square! She is serving in 3 family wards in Poway, the Lake Hodges Ward, Del Sur and Rancho Bernardo. It's going to be a party! And I'm excited for the adventures to begin! It sounds like summer has started for all of you! That's exciting, make sure to tell me all about your adventures!!

But as for my adventures..... 

Tuesday was crazy. Tuesday was a period of growth! Thankfully it was started off on a good note like I said last week, by going to the Temple. Heavenly Father knew I would need that peace to come back into this CRAZY world. We had a bunch of appointments fall through. We had a nice meeting with our 88 year old investigator. But boy can he TALK! We were in their for quite sometime and coming out I was slightly frustrated. But he's reading The Book of Mormon so THAT is awesome!!!!! No baptismal date yet but I know the Sisters will take care of that. And besides he is starting to really get fellowshipped in the ward. Last night some members took them to see the movie, "Singing with Angels." It's about the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and that's all about I know. People said it was good! It was only a one time show though. Glad they went! We then later that Tuesday night had a pass off lesson from the Bostonia Elders. It was for a YSA named Ryan they had found. Ryan is AWESOME!!! He has a really basic knowledge of religion so it was nice to keep it really basic because that is when the spirit is strongest! And then when we had the follow up lesson he got a baptismal date for JULY 9TH!!!!!! He's awesome! Just needs to get work off and come to church! He's in the process! YAY! 

I also had a long talk with Heavenly Father, it was awesome. He's a good one to talk to. 

Wednesday, was go go GO! We were able to meet with a lot of recent  converts, including Vanessa and Stacey. Both are doing awesome! They both have callings, Vanessa has been to the Temple multiple times and they are both just on FIRE! I'm really proud of them, I'm sad to leave them but I'm excited for how much good they will do in the world! I love them! We also met with Brother Nelson, a less active. and let me tell you I was SO grateful for the member that was there. Brother McCulloch just did amazing! He truly brought the spirit and he made Brother Nelson feel so comfortable. Members are just so important in that regard! So even people who haven't really been to church in a while need a friend, just like investigators do! We also had our 2nd and last district meeting. With all of the crazy mission tours and mission meetings we weren't able to have more then 2! But that's ok, because I've learned A LOT this transfer. They asked me to bear my testimony on my purpose. It's always an eye opener, for me then for anyone else, to bear my testimony. I truly see where I am at when I follow the spirit and bear my testimony, I now find myself grasping at every opportunity to bear my testimony! I challenge you all to as well. :)

Thursday. Weekly Planning! Weekly planning keeps me safe from sin! It truly does, it helps me not to mess up! Planning is so important, that's a HUGE lesson my mission has taught me. Setting goals and making plans. It's always nice when you get weekly planning breaks for frozen yogurt during lunch. Always a good idea. :) We saw Gail and she got your card Mom! Stacey did as well and they just loved it! I am surrounded by good people and I am blessed. :) 

Friday. Friday was crazy! 2 of the Sisters we are over went home today but on Friday they had departure activities where the departing missionaries that transfer go to the Temple, get interviewed by President Schmitt and eat food and have a testimony meeting. So their 3rd companion needed a companion and it ended up being me! We seemed to of woke up quite early for a couple times this week since we also helped them get to the airport today as well. whew! But Chula Vista is awesome! And it's going to be Sister Mioles new area! WOOOHOO!!!! And Sister Miole is TRAINING!!!! YAYYYYYY!!! So proud of her, she's going to do AWESOME! But anyway, Chula was quite fun. I got to sit in on their zone meeting. One nugget of knowledge I got was that when we want investigators, we would love for them to be golden investigators. The people who just go above and beyond what is asked and really soak it all in and have a desire for more. Well if we want those people, we have to be those golden investigators to God. We have to go above and beyond and be more dedicated to the work! And I'm all in right now! It was a good day, Chula Vista is an awesome area and I even got cheesecake out of it. An automatic good day. :)

Saturday. SO FUN! On the plus side we got to do power hour on Prince Charming Lane! How many misisonaries can say they did that? Not many. But alas no prince charmings or charming anythings were found. But many seeds were planted and smiles were given.

We then were able to have lunch with the Senior Missionaries that live right below us. The Tanners!!! They rock. Great healthy lunch and full of the spirit. It's amazing to hear the sacrifices others make, in this case for them they both are going through medical problems. Such faith! WE THEN GOT TO GO TO THE MORMON BATTALION WITH MARCO!!! That was sooo fun! I just love the Mormon Battalion! Always makes me feel good! And when Marco came he brought a 4 year old friend. And man was Adrianna a climber! She was pretty good though, but really cute. :) Marco is just doing awesome! He came to FHE last night, he unfortunately missed church because he was babysitting... BUT he is still motivated to be baptized! July 2nd here we come!!! :):):)

Then we ran home to have Thai food with our branch mission leader Kevan. Twas good and it brought me back to the day I opened my mission call. Right before I opened it I had Thai food with Roger and Kristine. Here I am over a year later. Time just flies! (yesterday I hit my 13 month mark.. yikes!)

Sunday is always a special day. Especially when you are in Santee. We didn't have any investiagtors at church, but that's ok! It's not for a lack of trying. That's for sure! But it was awesome once again to see all of our recent converts and friends who are trying to come back to church. Makes my heart smile. :) And miracle of all miracles! As our appointments cancelled for the night we pulled in to our apartment complex, and there we see Ilene! Not a while back we had given Ilene a Book of Mormon and were unable to set a return appointment. And we were praying that we would be able to run into her again! And here she was! We talked to her for a while and everytime she talked it was just like YOU NEED WHAT I HAVE!!! YOU NEED THE GOSPEL! So we offered it to her and she accepted! I'm sad I won't be able to meet with her but I know the Sisters will take care of her! 

Ah Monday. Monday we recieved a call from President receiving the news about transfers. I'm sad but really excited for another ward!!! The future is bright and so is my faith. 

In our zone we had zone meeting. What I learned from that is how important the spirit is and how important it is to love our enemies. When the spirit is not there it drains you more then when the spirit is there. I never want to be without the spirit for a moment in my life. No one should. The spirit is alwasy something to strive for!

Santee Zone 

We also got to see Eddie, he's doing awesome, hanging in there. Proud of him!

We also had dinner with Dulce and Anthony, a hard goodbye! And the next time I see them they will probably be married! Lots of goodbyes and lots of teacing happened on Monday. Including Gail. When we told Gail we were leaving it was probably one of the most hardest of all, she almost made me cry. She's a sweet woman and I will miss her. As well as the Nelson family, I have seen them grow SO much! Repentance is such a blessing and we should take full advantage of it just like they did! 

And here I am, typing away with my new companion(s). It's a good life. It's mission life and I wouldn't change it for the world. I'll miss Santee but I know I'll LOVE Poway.

Sisters Whitcomb, Stirland, & Kratzer 

Just as much as I love all of you! I just want all of you to know that I trust the Lord. I trust him and I have faith that he will lead me in the right direction and I know that this is him leading me. How lucky I am.

I LOVE ALL OF YOU!!!!

Love, Sister Whitcomb

At transfers :) 

Marco Polo

G'Day my family!

And happy early birthday to mi hermano Roger! My oh my, one year older and wiser too! Happy birthday to you! :) Hope it's a great one! And

birthday shout out to Funcle Aaron and cousin Cooper! I love you all!

And I loved this week! Very spiritual, full of miracles and I'm just

trying to sprint to get the work done everyday!

I truly am. I just have to make sure I feel effective while I do so. :)

But Tuesday night was awesome! The YW had asked us to come to one of their activities to answer any of the questions the young woman might have. So fun! It was a great time to bear testimony, share miracles, and share fun stories too! And when we asked them who wants to go on a mission, ALL OF THEIR HANDS WENT UP!!!! WOOOHOOOOO!!! That's what I'm talking about!!! :) :):) 

We were able to sit down with good ol' John Stevenson, he's a recent convert that needs some help. And I love it when we can give it to people. You truly know when you've helped through what they say in their prayer. And his prayer was golden. Love John. 

And our tracking miracle of Daniel has to be put into the Lords

hands for now. I know down the road missionaries will be able to help

him, his heart just has to soften.

Wednesday was the start of the miracle of Marco. Aka Marco Polo. ;)

Marco was the YSA we street contacted in our parking lot and he has

just really grabbed ahold of this message. Since we've met with him,

he has come to church, he loved it and he especially loved the priesthood meetings. He's been researching on Mormon.org, LDS.org, and listening to the Mormon Tabernacle choir on YouTube. AND he's downloaded every church app known to man, even the pamphlets app! I bet not all of you knew the church had one! :) Marco does! Marco is just so cool! And he wants to be BAPTIZED!!! I woke up to this amazing text, it was amazing enough to knock on the door of my companion going to the bathroom and excitedly tell her this text,

"Sorry this is so late but I've been doing some research and I would

really love for you to tell me how I can be baptized. I just felt

something as I was researching and I would love to be able to meet

with you tomorrow."  (Something to that extent)

WOW!! Marco why are you so cool? It's literally been just over a week!

And he's already been inviting people to his baptism, he's in 1 Nephi

13, he's just AWESOME!!!! And he's going to ask for Sunday's off

forever! He's a good man. :) And while one of the YSA at church was

welcoming they said they hoped to see him next week and Marco

responds, "Oh I'll be here, it'll help prepare for my baptism!" OH

he's so cool! And also the Elders had a baptism this past Sunday and

Marco came!!! He came!!! It was awesome. :)

And on the plus side we

were able to present our fancy Restoration presentation complete with

technology and powerful testimonies from members. :) So yeah, Marco.

WE also got to meet with some of our favorite recent converts, Vanessa

and Stacey! And Vanessa went to the Temple again this week! Yay!!

She's just eating it up. :) And Stacey just cracks me up! She had gone

to a Single adult activity with guest speakers, like JOHN BYETHEWAY!

Obviously super awesome. And she said she hadn't even sat down and

someone was already asking her to save him a dance. That's our Stacey!

:) And now she said when people try to hit on her in the grocery store

she has a line where she says,

"You can take me to Jamba Juice if you come to church with me."

MAN SHES AWESOME!!!! Great lady.

Afterwards we went to go see a returning less active and followed the

spirit 100%. I know if we didn't we wouldn't of been able to go to the

root of the problem. And it's interesting that when people see that

other people know heir situations, they expect them to leave. But thats

not how I work! And it's all because of this gospel that has made me

that way, no matter what anyone has done I will NEVER turn them away.

I will never be in the position to judge. Never.

Hot nights call for sleepovers in the room with the A/C

Thursday. So in San Diego they have a saying for the weather. May doom June gloom July fry. Well apparently it's already July because it's

getting pretty toasty. And have no fear, the sunscreen is on! I also

love the Bishops family very much in the Grossmont Ward. We got to go over there for dinner and just the whole time all of them were talking

about how they had given copies of The Book of Mormon away and we

committed them to do more missionary work! They are just an AWESOME family! And then we were able to teach the man that walked into YSA sacrament meeting. Turns out he is 35 and lives in Lakeside. Really cool guy though. Lucky Elders! But we brought Eddie to the lesson, and Daniel really appreciated his testimony. Eddie ROCKS! Recent convert fire!! And Eddie has 2 investigators lined up for us! Totally prepared!

They want to come to church and get a tour! We can do that! Eddie is

totally fulfilling his calling as a branch missionary! :)

And the moment of truth. Friday. Another mission tour with Elder James

J. Hamula. Wow. He is another man filled with authority. And I'll just

try to sum up what I learned.

Not only did he come to the mission but

we had a Mission Leadership Council afterwards too, and he came to

that! What really inspired me was the faith to start vs. the faith to

succeed! Our mission needs the faith to succeed! The faith needs to

keep going, keep growing. The faith to succeed focuses on others

rather then yourself. He also talked about the Doctrine of YOU. How

understanding who we are helps us to better understand the doctrine of

Christ. And now snip bits of my notes:

-When you have those hard days, you have a privilege of knowing

something about the master himself, especially when you are rejected,

PLEASE have the attitude of the Savior! "Forgive them, for they know

now what they do."

-You are BLESSED to have the Schmitts! If he were to have children to

go on missions, Elder Hamula would want them to come to a couple like

the Schmitts.

-You're not a disobedient mission! Collectively. Do you want to take

it to the next level? Listen to what we just said of letting go of

casualness.

-The Doctrine of YOU. Only when you begin to understand who you are you get the opportunity to understand the Doctrine of Christ. This

doctrine is not to take away from the Doctrine of Christ. When you

understand who you are, it's to understand your purpose more, and to

pursue your purpose with greater ENERGY!

-Who you are here now, you are among the most valiant of our sons and daughters of God. You fought valiantly for the Lord, you loved him

with all of your heart and souls. You knew the gospel and you gave

everything you had to the Great War that was had there. Because of

your exceeding love, courage, and for the Father and the great Plan of

Salvation, you were served for these last days to fight like you

fought before! What keeps you going? What keeps us going? It's the

assurance that this time it's different! Peter, James, John knew what

they were doing wouldn't last but they looked forward to this time

when it would be restored. You are them. That's the Doctrine of You.

You simply need to recover what you already know, that's the value of

the spirit to bring back everything that was already said to you.

-**ARE YOU WILLING TO PAY THE PRICE WHEN THE PRICE GOES UP?** It will always go up.

-Goals are suppose to pull more out of you, that's what we want.

Success is measured by the commitment and consecration. FOCUS ON THE STRETCH, getting that done. You set the plan to cause you to stretch. You are accountable to the Lord! These are YOUR goals.

-These visits (Elder Holland & Hamula) put you under responsibility

now, to be different. It's not just suppose to make you feel better,

you are under obligation to do something wonderful.

-You can see that the Lord loves you by placing you near people who

have a desire to strive back towards the Lord, just as you do.

Great day, it was quite draining. The spirit does that to you I guess.

And still when we sang the mission song. Powerful, every time. And we also sang Called to Serve. Powerful.

Afterwards we went on splits and I got to see Doug! I've never seen

him so excited, it was nice to hear his appreciation towards me. Love

that family!

Saturday we had the baptism with Marco and it was a very green day. In other words a day of finding! And that's why I'm grateful for this trio

because through it all they keep me happy and laughing and motivated!

All GREAT things! :)

And we got to end our night at the Nelsons, I just

love that family! Seeing Brother Nelson not remember when he prayed

last to then praying in sacrament meeting and then doing family scripture study and prayer! Small miracles are actually big miracles! I'm so honored to of been able to teach this family. And now when we go over to teach them, they teach us! They just rock. And the Plan of

Salvation is always a good lesson to teach families.

And Sunday. It was my fortunate opportunity to be able to bear

testimony in the Grossmont Ward. About my Savior and my love for him.

Spirit was strong and so were the water works. But it was really nice

to walk down and get a hug from Stacey and then to see Sister Nelson,

who we taught the night before, say how grateful she was for us and

how much change her family has experienced. Just awesome! And also

what I loved is that now we are in a trio, while Sister Miole is in

YSA sacrament meeting Sister Purcell and I go to a part of Ward

council but by the time we get out we still have an hour before the

next sacrament meeting. So we go invite people to church! I think

that's the greatest and easiest thing we could ever do, and you could

tell people appreciated it. Even if we got no one to come with us, I

know it made a difference. So someday don't be surprised if I stop on

your door one Sunday morning. ;) And fun story, every night we usually

walk into a roasting apartment, and the a/c is in the study room, not

our bedroom and it doesn't circulate too well. So we brought all our

mattresses out and had a fun actual sleepover party! Best night ever!

Monday we did have to take our car to Pepboys to change our tires but

while we were there we got to teach the restoration! An almost

referral, so close! But it was awesome how even we weren't in the

streets Heavenly Father still placed someone in our path for us! :)

And this morning for P-Day we went to the Temple. It's been forever

since I had gone last so it was SO nice to be there. I just felt so at

peace and I get so excited every time I'm in there! I literally feel

like a little girl on Christmas. I love the Temple. :):):):)

AND I LOVE ALL OF YOU!!! I really appreciate all the support you give

me, it really helps me to keep sprinting, to talk to everyone I see,

to smile more, and to teach more by the spirit! Thanks for the

constant love and support! I hope you feel it coming right back at

you! :)

Love, Sister Whitcomb