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