Instrument in His Hands

Happy Summer!!!

Wow what a week of July! Full of Milagros!!!!! :) But since today was
transfer day I am happy to report that Sister Stirland and I are
staying together for another transfer!!! Woohoooo!!! I'm so grateful!
And it's unheard of that a Mormon Battalion Sister stays out for
3 transfers in a row! I'm a lucky Sister! And a very grateful one as
well. :) Crazy how time flies though.... BUT miracles happened left
and right this week! 

And so let me begin... KATIE!!!! We have a new investigator!!! Her
name is Katie and she is AMAZING!!!!!!!! She is the one that we street
contacted at the farmers market. :) We had an appointment Tuesday
night with her and she just let us right on in! Katie is a champ she
lost her fiancé a while ago and has really been able to deal with it
quite well. BUT it was sort of a rough restoration because she just
needs a totally different teaching style that we hadn't developed yet.
BUT HAVE NO FEAR! Companionship study and role play are real! And
Katie is being baptized on August 27th. :) She already got the day off
from work and everything. :) She also got Monday and Tuesday's nights
off so she can go to FHE and Institute. But not Sunday's yet. ;) She
is very good at feeling and identifying the spirit, we showed her the
chapel and just right away she was blown away, she loved it! And she
had a dream telling her this church is true and she should stick with
it. WOW!!!! Plus she's the most social person I've ever met, just
walking up to people and introducing herself, playing paint twister
with the YSA like no big deal. She has a lot of faith and a lot of
love. I have that same love for her. :)

AND MIA MOORE IS A MORMON NOW!!!! Oh my gosh. What a baptism! So
spiritual and it was packed with YSA and it was at 10 am!!! Impressive
right? ;) But seriously, the talks, the musical numbers, and Mia's
testimony was just so awesome! And when we presented the restoration
the spirit was so strong. We had a couple members bear testimonies
during it and man. Powerful. Jaden, Mia's friend from Nevada who
introduced her to the the gospel, came, and we had her help us with our
presentation. She bore her testimony of The Book of Mormon and talked
about how she and her friends left one in Mia's car and Mia left it
there. So cool! And later in Mia's testimony she mentioned how having
interest helped because when the cops would pull her over she wouldn't
get a ticket. Nice Mia. ;) But what a strong lady. She mentioned how
she was amazed at how much love missionaries can have for someone
right away. And it's true, it is amazing. I'm glad she could feel it.
:) I love Mia. And I love how their were 3 nonmembers at her baptism,
the spirit of God stuck them. :)

And then exchanges! I got to be with Sister Essymba from Africa!!!!!!
She is companions with the wonderful Sister Carlson and the cute
Sister Davis. I got to stay with Sister Essymba in Poway!!!! She is
just so awesome, what a strong testifier. I seriously learned so much,
especially about the importance of testifying. She is a rock. Love
her! And love our members! Grace Wooley is literally the best because
from 4:30 pm to 9 pm she drove us around and helped us teach! That's
the kind of member missionary I want to be like. BUT GUESS WHAT THIS
UPCOMING MIRACLE MADE MY WHOLE LIFE!!!! I'm still shaking from it....
So do you remember in El Cajon when I was teaching Elder Mahaffeys
grandson, Josh Mahaffey? We had a lesson with him where Tippy the cat
killed a bunny? Josh is awesome and he kind of got less motivated. But
as we were street contacting in Ramona all of a sudden I hear, "Hey
Stranger!" AND THERE WAS JOSH MAHAFFEY!!!!!! He remembered me! And my
name! IT WAS THE COOLEST THING EVER!! I wish I could of seen my face
because I'm pretty sure my jaw dropped. El Cajon to Ramona? Who knew!
And right exactly when I was serving there and I just so happened to
be in his apartment complex when he was! WOW!!! He said he would love
to meet with us again! And he has a girl friend that would too! But
he's going on a religious retreat for an undetermined amount of time
but I'm really excited to teach his girlfriend Sabrina, she seemed
really excited too! MILAGROS FOR DAYS!!!!! :):):):):)
I also love being the mouthpiece for our loving Heavenly Father. Their
was one street contact where we just approached this man. Found out he
was homeless, his ex wife lost all his money, and many other awful
things. We sat down with him and told him how much God loves him. We
read from the Book of Mormon with him. And words were coming out of my
mouth that I knew weren't mine. One of the coolest moments on my
mission and one I will never forget, I'm excited for the Elders to
teach him! :)
Then during a power hour we street contacted this man from Bulgaria.
He invited us to eat with him, so we did, don't worry it was outside.
It was interesting! But we came back the next night because the Elders
couldn't and ate dinner again and taught 3 men the Restoration. It was
hard, sarcastic jokes from them and not entirely the best audience.
BUT it was worth it because the quietest one had the most sincere
questions and accepted a copy of The Book of Mormon. He didn't want
missionaries to find him in La Mesa, but he said he'd read it. I'll
take it! And we will send the Elders back!
Sunday. WAS A FUN DAY!!! This whole weekend all of the YSAs over San
Diego, 13 wards/branches, had a regional conference. SO Sacrament meeting was
combined and we got permission to go! And since I have served in 3 YSA
wards now I had many friends to hug and shake hands with! AND TENDER
MERCY!! 3 of my recent converts passed the sacrament, Marco, Eddie,
and Anthony!!! Ahhhh so awesome! And Marco said the opening prayer and
I was just beaming!! I just busted with joy that day! BURSTED!!! And
Mia was just glowing, truly was. And I got a lot of revelation that
day. The Lord reassuring me once again that I've gotten my answer many
times to my prayers and that I just need to trust him. Have faith. I
will Heavenly Father, I will! :)

A fun P-Day at Poway Park

AND THEN MIRACLE MONDAY! Wow, that Sacrament really boosted us up!
Because guess what!  We got a phone call from Elder Woods, the Mormon
Battalion director, he told us that a youth church group of 40 High
School kids want to learn more of what we believe. Wait what?
Seriously. The pastor of a Box Church called the Mormon Battalion and
said just teach us like you would any person. So we did! And we got to
come help because some of them live in Poway!   Wow. I was so
impressed by those kids! So respectful, so kind, a light truly was in
there eyes and then when we opened it up for questions at the end, they were so
intelligent! A lot of them came up to us afterward and asked us more
about our missionary trip and the plan of salvation! Wow! It was
awesome! And I don't know if I'll ever get to do that again so what an
honor! To teach 40 people who were all intently listening! Some of
them were minors so we couldn't of gotten any appointments
with them, but we gave them a folder with all this information and
pamphlets and a card to request The Book of Mormon. It was awesome!
And when we were talking about Joseph Smith, boom spirit! This was a
HUGE seed planter for a lot of them. Wow. And then the day just kept
on getting better and better! Every night we always have dinner with
the Bishop and his wife so that was a treat! And then FHE, paint
twister! Mia was there, Katie was there, and then our friend Roland
showed up! So background on Roland, Sister Stirland and I street
contacted he and his friend Ronnie and taught them the Restoration.
They had a ton of questions, and we gave them both a Book of Mormon.
They didn't know of a time to meet so we just got their phone numbers.
And yesterday we were driving and I look to my left and there was
Roland! We waved to eachother and had to drive off because of the
green light. We tried to find him but were unsuccessful. But he texted
us and said sorry he kept missing us!! So we invited him to FHE!!
Wonderful Rodrigo gave him a ride, they did show up an hour late but
they came! We were planning on teaching Katie as well but we knew we
had to teach him too so we had to act fast! So we went on splits with
our wonderful members! Sister Stirland went with Valissa and Katie and
I heard it went beautifully! I had the privilege of giving Roland a
church tour and teach the restoration with Rodrigo, Miranda, and
Jordan Hood. Wow, powerful experience. Roland was just so attentive
and engaged. Such a spiritual experience, the members did an awesome
job at testifying and Roland related to all of them! We taught him how
to pray and he said the sweetest prayer! I'm so excited to teach him
and he loves the members already! Who wouldn't! AHHH!! Oh and he said
he would be baptized!! WOOHOOOO!!!
I'm so lucky. I'm the luckiest Sister missionary out there. I'm lucky
to have all of you! I truly do love you and want to give you all hugs!
I'm cheering for you! :)

Love, Sister Whitcomb

More P-Day Fun!

Keep Sprinting

Hello my dear family!!!

Another week has flown by and next week is transfers!! AHH!!! So crazy! I truly hope they don't take Sister Stirland back to the Battalion.... We truly never know! I'll let you know next week. :) It's been a great week, one full of lessons and the spirit. And of course YSA and an ever on going Pokemon go. ;)

Mia Mia Mia. Might as well start off with the good stuff right? ;) I LOVE MIA!! AND SHE PASSED HER BAPTISMAL INTERVIEW!!!! YAY!!!! I didn't for a second doubt it that she wouldn't pass. She's my hero. :) It was so cute when she said she didn't really wanted us involved in the program because she would need us to be right next to her the whole time. Ahhh. But it definitely has not been easy for her, and that's why I'm grateful President Schmitt is inspired and has asked every missionary to make daily contact 2 weeks before they get baptized. Mia needs it and we really have been able to get her to open up to us and trust us but more importantly trust God and the gospel he has given her. She's doing a great job! :) It was fun to put her program together. (She wants the opening song to be "The Star Spangled Banner" really badly... we will see what happen... ;) BUT SHE"S GETTING BAPTIZED THIS SATURDAY??? Isn't that crazy? Really crazy, time does fly. 

We went on exchanges on Wednesday and I got to be with my glorious 2 week companion Sister Kratzer. It was so cool to just get back in the swing of things, she's super bold! She's probably one of my favorite people to street contact with, it just feels so natural and we make so many new friends that way!! And it's amazing to see that even we ourselves as missionaries have concerns and things we struggle with, we are the happiest when we put those things aside and serve other people. When we are completely focused on our purpose. It's amazing!!!! Sister Kratzer is a great example to me of that. Where we live in Poway their is a cute park called, "Old Poway Park." With a little railroad and kind of an antique feel to it with little shops. (Mom you would have a field day!!!) We did power hour there and let me tell you, apparently it's a hot spot for Pokemon go because that's where everyone was. And more specifically the YSA! We have literally doubled our potential investigators this week because of it. Miracles, miracles. But once we got there we just started teaching this girl named Sierra. Poor Sierra has had a lot of death in her family. We were talking with her so much that we just say down with her on the ground. It was a tender moment and we actually got to give her a Book of Mormon. Then the next day Sister Stirland and I street contacted her in a different location! She was busy but said we could continue to text her to figure out a time we can meet. WE WILL!! :) It was also super cool at dinner how we saw a member get so passionate about missionary work he started to cry. He called us to repentance a little bit and now I am even more committed to helping members do missionary work. (Make sure all of your missionaries are doing that for you too! Follow up is vital! :)) Bottom line, exchanges were a blast! 

I truly do love the Sisters I am over, I feel a love for them I have never felt before. To see them struggle makes me so sad and yet so joyful! What a wonderful process of growth! And I can't wait till they look back and see who they have become, I'm so lucky to be a part of their journey! 

Friday were interviews with President Schmitt! I love interviews, they are so short but I've always learned so much and yet again President Schmitt wowed me! He's awesome. And let me tell you he asks about all of you all the time, mi familia, he prays for you everyday. And who ever President Schmitt prays for will be blessed, so count your lucky starts. ;) But I asked President Schmitt what he would of told himself 6 months before his mission ended. He responded, "I don't know, I wouldn't of changed anything. Just love it." I will President I will. And then he told me that sprinters when they run races don't picture the finish line at the finish line, they picture it 10 yards beyond the finish line. So that when they get to the end they are going full speed! So here I go, sprinting the rest of my mission! Don't wait up! ;) 

Now I would love to tell you a little bit more about Westin. Westin is a recent convert since about April, I've mentioned him a couple times. He amazes me, I've never seen someone so strongly follow the spirit and be able to read people. He came out street contacting with us and just could read people, he has such a desire to help people and he does. He just knows when people are struggling. We even brought a member present to his lesson to be able to friendship him but instead Westin was the one helping him out! It's incredible, God's gifts are numerous.

But when we were going contacting with Westin we were suppose to teach Spencer, a less active. Spencer wasn't there, so Westin had to go. But for about 2 hours we were still in the area and I felt prompted to go back. And look who was there, Spencer. He really opened up to us on what his concerns are. Now it's up to me to be able to rely on the spirit to figure out how I can help him. Working with the Lord is just the best. Also handing out Book of Mormons is the best and we've been doing it a lot lately. And I love how we don't just hand them out but we explain it, read a passage we feel inspired to read, give them a reading assignment and then leave it with them. We did it with 2 YSA that same night, it was awesome. They seem so ready to commit and then it falls through or they don't come to church. Ah YSA, you are so awesome but so difficult! It's the best challenge ever! 

And really cool experience in Ramona, we were trying to find this YSAs house FOREVER! It turns out their house was burned down and they now live in a huge metal garage or box of some sorts you could call it. So sad, but those girls have awesome testimonies. It was confirmed to me later by Bishop that it was definitely worth all that time to go and find them. Search and Rescue. People need it and we won't stop till we find them, I hope you all join in the search! It can be frustrating but it's worth it, not only for that person but for that persons family. Generations are always impacted. 

Sunday, game day! Mia the faithful was there! Always can count on her. She also came to our dinner appointment, since we needed a female so 2 return missionaries could feed us. We taught the Restoration to them at the end and it was one of the most spiritual restorations I have ever taught! Tears and all, I'm glad Mia was there. Then we went to our Mission Presidents Devotional with Mia. And I for once was not involved in the program so it was really nice to sit in the crowd. Guess who was there? ALEX BOYE!!! He is awesome, full of testimony and has an amazing conversion story. Life was hard for him after he was baptized, but he was able to get through it. I'm glad Mia heard that. But the coolest thing ever was guess who one of the speaker was? STACEY!!!!! My purple haired friend Stacey!! I was just beaming! She sounded so natural and she is so firmly planted where she is. It makes my heart sing! I'm so glad Mia got to hear her as well! She is just amazing!!! And I got to give her a hug so it made it 10X better! It was amazing how many friends I have made here in San Diego, I saw so many people who I loved and cared for! :) My heart was full. 

And Magical Monday! Always a great one! It was my first time doing the famous Goat service in Poway! Their is a woman who is not super active in the church and she has a goat farms where it's literally cages and cages of goats. Probably over 200 goats. Imagine that, goats, dirt, and poop. IT WAS AWESOME!! We got to feed baby goats and also we found a potential investigator!!!!! John. John works there and once we spotted him we literally never left his side. We just served and taught the gospel to John. He's gonna meet with us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was so cool! And even though I had alfalfa all in my hair I didn't even care! ;) So many people are just falling in our laps. Life is good. :) 

Bishop Tengberg and his wife are so nice! They feed us every Monday and we talk about missionary work the whole time! They are just an on fire couple! I'm amazed by their love and support and I hope to love missionaries that much some day! 

Before I head out for the week I want to make one suggestion to all of you, look up the book, "You are Special." Read it, absorb it, live it. God loves us, he knows us, and it's important for us to "visit with Him" everyday to figure out why we are so special. And he knows, he's the one who made us. 

And I also know how special you all are, if you ever forget just ask me why! :) But most importantly ask Heavenly Father. He loves you and he's waiting to hear from you!!!

Love, Sister Whitcomb

Gotta Catch 'Em All

Oh beautiful day!!
It's Tuesday! And yes, I do know about the new Pokémon go app. Why you might ask? Because compared to prior weeks their are a lot more people to talk to outside and all of them are playing this game! (the best secret missionary tool ever!) Heavenly Father works in mysterious ways. The missionaries in San Diego are being blessed! Everyone is out! And the work keeps moving forward! I loved this week just as much as the last. :) 

We actually dropped our investigator Chad Tuesday night. Always really hard, but he's struggling with faith. It's a hard concept, I guess it might appear that life would be easier if God would just appear to us but I  am grateful that I am able to grow through my faith. I know Chad will one day too, we left him with a talk to ponder and an open invitation to come to church. I hope he comes!! He's a really nice guy! The prayer that he said at the end was so sweet, truly asking if God was there, I know if he keeps doing that, his prayers will be answered! 

But man oh man! Since we cover YSA we cover the whole Poway stake, which includes Ramona!!!! SO FUN!!! Ramona is beautiful and reminds me of Jamul, just a little more civilized. haha :) We went in the evening so we got to see the sun set and we almost played a game of pool to a guy we taught the restoration to. Just kidding, we had to speed home to make it for curfew! But the Elders can now go over!! WOOHOO!! And apparently it's the first referral the Elders have received in 3 months, wow. That's a long time. I'm glad we got to be the answer to someone's prayers!! 

And Thursday. SO FUN!!! WE GOT TO GO TO THE MORMON BATTALION WITH MIA!!!!

WOOHOOO!!! Man so much love! The battalion, Mia, so much! We had dinner with Mia and our member Rodrigo beforehand and then drove to the Battlion. And since Sister Stirlands original call was the Mormon Battalion, so she got to dress up in a cute pioneer dress and give a tour! It was awesome, Mia loved it and was totally not expecting how fun it was going to be! Everyone needs to go to the Battalion! Even a man from Germany was there and at the end of the tour he said he had been to Temple Square as well and he just feels something different. THE SPIRIT OF GOD!!!

Battalion, gotta love it, full of miracles! But then Mia wanted to see the Temple as well so we made a quick pit stop and got to talk to Mia about the Temple. She literally knows so much! She wants to bring her Grandmothers name to the Temple and she already knows she's going to get her endowment in a year! This girl literally glows and so many people mistake her as a member! We got to sit down with the Bishop on Sunday with Mia so they could meet eachother and the Bishop confessed that he already thought she was a member! She already glows like a member! I LOVE HER!!! She comes to church, reads her scriptures twice a day and comes to all the activities! She's so cool!!! And apparently she has an Uncle and a cousin that converted to the church as well! Small world!

But as well on Thursday we were able to stop by the man, Matthew, who had glass in his foot. We came by with a member and when he opened the door you could tell he just totally forgot. He felt so bad! But guess what? He went to the doctors! His foot is no longer pussy and he was able to better communicate with us as well. :) We gave him a Book of Mormon and told him to read certain sections, he said he was going to come to church but wasn't able to. He said he would love to learn, and that his brother was learning and would probably like to continue it! WAAHOOO!!!! 

And here in Poway, every single Power Hour that I've been on has been such a success. We've invited so many people to be baptized, given out so many Book of Mormons (And people said they would actually read them),  given out so many referrals, and we've found a very few of our own potentials. POWER HOUR IS GOLDEN HOUR!!! And we've just been inviting and inviting and inviting them to activities via the phone, so hopefully one of them will show up soon! :) 

And the members are on FIRE!! We had a member who was suppose to come to a lesson that cancelled but he wanted to come tract with us! He was so pumped to go knock door to door and when we were knocking we managed to find a less active here on vacation from Utah, a dead possum, and we gave away a Book of Mormon. The member we brought out with us was literally run/walking from house to house! And he was a tall man so we were booking it to keep up with him. IT WAS AWESOME!!! They keep me fired up!!!! We also had zone meeting where Sister Stirland and I gave training. High Expectations and High Love people, they are so important and you can't have one with out the other! When we have those 2 things, miracles happen and faith increases!  

And talk about learning a lesson of Tender Mercies on Saturday! So we learned that every Saturday their is a Farmers Market where a ton of people gather, so we decide to go contact over there! Go where the people are! And it was slightly awkward at first, knowing who to approach, who to stop. But we saw miracles and ran into a former investigator, now have a potential investigator who was looking for a church and has a Book of Mormon. And talk about tender mercies, a member stopped us and bought us lunch! I almost cried! It was one of those high stress situations and she just let us know that God still loved us by buying us a sandwich! It's the little things, it truly is. Because that little act changed our whole day, it made us smile more, stand up straighter, and we defiantly did not feel alone in that big crowd. Never ignore a prompting, it could change millions of peoples days just by helping that one person. God is good. 

We went out to Ramona again on Saturday and our sweet senior couple, the Haws, drove us all over!  They just rock! They bought us dinner at the Ramona café as well which was apparently on a TV show on Food Network! Fancy stuff! ;) Even though it was hot and we both got a teensy bit sun burned our favorite part was probably street contacting an ice cream man. Yes we did share the gospel and yes we did get ice cream. :) 

My first official Sunday in the ward was awesome! So many members just willing to go! And I was so happy I got to bear my testimony to the members and nonmembers there! I put my name next to Nephi and let them know that whatever the Lord wants me to do I will do it, and I will not return home until I get it down. And I do these things because I love God and Gods children. Love is everything. And after every 3 hour block on each Sunday they have some type of linger longer. Except Bishop doesn't like to call it a linger longer, he calls it chat and chomp or flirt and feast or munch and mingle. He's a creative man. :) We then for the rest of the night had a member with us at all times which really makes the work so fun! We talked to many people and even stopped a YSA on his bike who said he would meet with us! I've never met so many people that have been looking for a church. Funny how the Lord works. :) 

And Monday was AWESOME because it was 7/11!! Free Slurpee day! We totally almost forgot but have no fear! We saw many people on the streets with Slurpee's and were reminded. :) And we again went on an awesome power hour with a convert, Greg, previously we had asked him to pray to know where to go and he thought of a random street. So off we went, and who do we run into? One of his army buddies, who is really struggling. He has just given up on God because of all the death that has been around him. He wasn't quite open to us but I know it softened him a little bit, especially to hear Greg's testimony. And I  know if Greg wasn't there, their would of been no way he would of listened to us. God is good!!! 

I just love teaching, I appreciate it so much when I have a long day and finally I get to sit down and teach a lesson. And we got to teach 2 surprise lessons yesterday to 2 less actives. Spencer and Ryan. They are awesome and they both want to share the gospel with people! Yipeee!!!! :) 

Even though we are really only teaching one investigator I'm really happy to say that I'm happy. I can honestly say I've been pretty impressed how I've never been frustrated and I've never given up hope. I know with all my heart that so many people are out there and I am willing to do whatever it takes to find them. I'm so happy to say my testimony is rock solid and is only getting more rock like qualities. ;) But I know Heavenly Father is preparing people and I can't wait to tell you all about them once I find them.

I love this church, I love my companion, I love my area, I love my mission. I love saying the name of our church to anyone and everyone I see.

I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints! And I couldn't be happier. :)

Love, Sister Whitcomb

Mia Moore, Mi Amor

HELLOOO!!!!! 

And Happy Belated 4th of July!! WHAT A GOOD WEEK!! I LOVE Mt. Woodson, I love the people, I love Sister Stirland, I love our investigators, I love our area. I JUST LOVE LIFE!!! It feels like home here, I have just been blown away this past week. WE HAVE BEEN SEEING SO MANY MIRACLES!! It's literally unreal, and they are just falling right into our laps! I must begin because the time is far spent. :)

SO Tuesday, I was finally with Sister Stirland. And a little bit about her, I don't know if I told you already but she is from Highland Utah, she came 1 transfer before me but she is also extending! She's awesome. She has been a Sister Training Leader for A LONG time, so she is amazing! She can sing, play piano, and she has the cutest curly hair ever! I just love her, and we talk about how we are very similar all the time! (And we even have the same first name! And we spell it the same way!! :)) ANYWAY so Tuesday night was awesome where I got to meet Westin, an amazing recent convert who was once an atheist but now is a strong Latter-Day Saint, and he comes out with us! He's awesome! I got to be stampeded by Valissa who came in and gave me a huge bear hug! (I went on splits with her in Santee when she was going to Grossmont college) We then also met with this super cool recent convert who went against her family but is in LOVE with the church. A family in Arizona introduced her. It's hard for her to come to church because of her family life and work but we will get her there! YSA, I'm so lucky to be in 3 different YSAs! And the Bishop is the nicest man ever! Bishop Tengburg, just a nice man. They let us do laundry at their home and study there and basically open their pantrees to us, they rock! 

But the coolest miracle happened on Wednesday morning. Right before we start studies we get a text from a YSA, Rodrigo. He said this girl, Mia Moore, who just showed up to church last week and became friends with him texted him. And she basiclly said that she knows the church is true, she reads and prays everyday, she found out where the nearest church for her was and the only thing she is missing is baptism. Her family has made it really hard but now that she is 18 and moved out from Nevada she wants to be baptized!!!!! She wants the Gift of the Holy Ghost!!! WE WERE JUMPING UP AND DOWN!! And Rodrigo told us we were going to have dinner with her tonight with him! SWEET!!! (And PS isn't her name the coolest? Mia Moore, Mi amor! SO COOL!!) So we meet her at a Chick-fil-a, I know classy! Mia is the most calmest and chill person ever! She acts like a member and sometimes she even admits she lies to people and tells them she is a member! Her friend introduced her to the church in Arizona and she would literally go to everything!! She's been through all the lessons and has been taught for years. She wanted to of been baptized 2 days ago! She wanted to be baptized this past Saturday  but as we prayed with her the spirit was teling Sister Stirland and I that it just wasn't right. But that July 23rd would be the right day. When we finally solidified that day, holy cow! The spirit was so strong and Mia almost cried. I love Mia, I'm so excited for her! We were able to bring her to a baptismal service on Saturday, (MARCOS BAPTISM, I will get to that later :)) and teach her a lesson. She's very different and very humble in lessons then when out of lessons. It's very cool. And this week we are going to the Mormon Battalion with her and since Sister Stirland served there she is going to give us the tour!! So excited!! But Mia also came to church which made me happy and for the 4th of July shes going back to Nevada for a little bit and sent us the nicest text right before she left. I just love this girl!! She's like my little sister. :) 

We also got to teach another one of Mt. Woodsons investigators, Cameron. He has cancer and has many health problems, so he seems very gentle and fragile. And yet he plays electric guitar, it makes me smile. :) But his Mom is a member and he knows he'll become a member but he just doesn't want to come to church. Not even for the first hour, but we will get him there! The spirit will tell him to go! And I also got to teach the famous Greg who many Sisters have taught before me. He is a recent convert, almost coming up on a year now! He use to be in the army so is a very tough guy. But this very tough guy loves the gospel and loves to share it with everyone! In fact when he came into church on Sunday he asked us if we had any appointments after church and we said no and then he said, "Well now you do, I found 2 people for you to teach." WHAT? SO cool! We taught his 2 friends Mike and Zack. They were the nicest guys and just really wanted to hear what made our church different. We gave them a Book of Mormon but weren't quite ready to set a return appointment. Ah YSA. Hopefully we'll be able to meet with them again, they said they would talk to Greg about it. But I've never received so many referrals from members and then been able to teach them instantly! It's amazing! 

That also happened to us on Thursday where we got this random text from an active member asking if we had any dinner plans. We did not and then he goes on to tell us that he wanted to have us over so we could teach his friend Regina! SO COOL!! So we go over and it turns out another YSA, Spencer, was there with his friend, Christina! SO crazy! So we had a nice dinner and then taught a powerful restoration where, the original member, Randall Sutton, and his family all bore powerful testimonies of the Restoration. And then at the end Regina asked amazing questions and she apparently already had a copy of The Book of Mormon. It was very cool! She as well wasn't quite ready to set up a return appointment, but these members will be getting a lot of follow up from us to see how their friends are doing! It was SO cool!! :) We also taught another investigator, Chad, who we will probably not teach for much longer. He is very analytical and when the spirit comes he gets scared of it and chases it right off. It can be quite an exhausting experience. We are just going to put him in to the Lords hands. 

Then Friday was MLC. Missionary Leadership Council. A very good one where President Schmitt got a call and church headquarters told him that our mission has been hand picked one of twelve to be a pilot mission for online proselyting. Oh boy! I'm not sure how I feel about it. Looks like I might be getting a facebook soon after all! Once again, oh boy! But afterwards Sister Stirland and I saw the coolest miracle during power hour. We were in an apartment complex and we decided to walk behind this random building up this random staircase to this random floor, (which of course by now we all know that nothing is done by random) and their was a door open and we could see some people. We walk by it but then we both feel as we need to ring the door bell on that open wide door. So we did and the Mom came and just looked and smiled and laughed and said, "Oh Sisters! Hello! Let me get my daughter. She has been looking for a church to go to and I haven't been able to bring her because I work on Sundays. Ashley come here!" And this 15 year old girl walks up and pretty much starts crying. She then tells us how she's been wanting to go to a church, we exchange numbers and tell her some other sisters will come over soon. Coolest experience ever! I love it, I love God! 

Then on Saturday, MARCO GOT BAPTIZED!!!!!! Wowie wow wow. Who would of thought, but it happened! And Eddie did such a good joy performing the ordinance, it might of taken him 3 times to get him all the way under but he did it! And when he stated the words he looked Marco right in the eye, very powerful! Nearly 40 people attended his baptism, it was awesome! And then during Marco's testimony he talked about the first time we met him and how after he came back from the hair salon he felt prompted to call us. And we came right over! And the rest is history! SO CRAZY!! And also it was Sister Purcells birthday. HAPPY BIRHTDAY!!! Best birthday gift ever. :) 

Sunday was literally so crazy and so fun! It was literally a YSA extravaganza where for the 3 hour block we were combined with 2 other YSA wards, one in Palomar and one was Black Mountain! And we were at the Black Mountain building! It was so fun! :)  And it was so awesome to see so many people that I love in Black Mountain. And the YSA in Mt Woodson are just so nice, they came right up to me and introduced themselves and asked when they could go out with us or what they can do to help. And Mia is just swarmed with fellowshippers! This is going to be awesome. :) But we all know why they have these YSA combined activities and thats why I am so grateful I am a missionary! At the end of the 3 blocks they had a munch and mingle and to mix it up they had all the guys take off their ties and it put it on a table and all of the girls had to pick one and then the guy had to find the tie and they had to eat with each other and get to know each other. Nice. 

AND AMERICA DAY!!! It was a great day. Apparently it was also the day of hugs because we received many awkward hugs from different potential male investigators. Awkward!! So the first one was the first house we stopped by, we woke him up and we were actually looking for his brother but hey! He was YSA and he was there. So we started to talk to him and right away you could tell he was either under the influence of something or getting over something. He then pointed out to us how he had glass in his foots for about 3 weeks and the puss told you it was true! So not only did we commit him to an appointment but also to go to the hospitail. He then went to hug Sister Stirlands waist, HILARIOUS!! And then when we were power houring and talking in spanglish to this this man who we gave a Libro de Mormon to and he decided to awkwardly side ways hug us. Good times! We then had to go in early at 6 pm for safety reasons. We studied faith and boy was it enlightening. It was awesome! And then Sister Stirland and I played with bubbles and saw fireworks from our door. It was an awesome night. :) 

But I hope you all had the best 4th as well! I love you all and miss you all! This is just going by too fast! I hope you are all happy and continue to turn to the Lord for that happiness. I LOVE YOU!!! 

Love, Sister Whitcomb