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