Last post as SISTER Collins!!!

Thanks for the very BLUE package.  My first thought when I opened it? … MOM!!!!  I shared the blue candy with the Elders and Sister DeWidt.  The Elders enjoyed showing me their blue tongues.  We enjoyed the rest of the treats during General Conference.  I also shared some of the My Little Pony tissues with the R family because the boys love My Little Pony.

Sunday night we had dinner with the YW President and her family and we asked if we could help with anything and as she was telling us how we could help she started laughing and said, “I completely forgot your name. All I wanted to call you was Whitney and say hey Whit, the cups are up there HAHAHA!” It was pretty funny then I teased saying that she must have been looking at my facebook.

This week we spent a lot of time with members and had a lot of great meals!  We also had a lady call us to have us help her move. She was a less active that we hadn’t met yet.  It was great to meet her and we were able to help her move out and in to her new place!  It was awesome and she was super sweet and funny. 

We watched conference at the church. It was so good!!! I loved the whole thing!!!!! We had some issues with the connection but it ended up working with only a few struggles.  

It has been a little rainy here this week.  It has been cold though! In the mornings it has been 32 degrees!!! On Saturday morning there was snow on the peaks of the mountains!!!  

Tomorrow morning I will be heading down to Manchester.  I will be going to transfer meetings and then going to do a session at the Boston Temple with the missionaries who are heading home!!!  That night we will have dinner at the mission home and then have a testimony meeting.  I think we will be staying there.  Wednesday its off to the airport!  Crazy!!!

Well I gotta go. 

SEE YOU SOON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DON'T PARTY TOO HARD WITHOUT ME!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(more pictures will be added on facebook)

"I'm going home????"

Final district meeting

Snow on the mountain peaks

See you next week!!!

This week we found several solid potentials. They were too busy to meet with us right then but they expressed sincere desire for us to return and share our message.  One woman even told us specifically to come back in the middle of October and said, "I truly want you to come back and share your message." With another lady I felt impressed to go back to this house that I had seen a lady at a couple of months ago.  We knocked on her door and even though she is really busy at the moment and unsure of her schedule she gave us the times that she normally gets home and accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon! We also found a lost member while tracting that we are going to check back up on.  We also have a new investigator.  She is super sweet and very open.

J was confirmed on Sunday. It was an incredible and sweet blessing.  The spirit was so strong and you could see the change in her! It was like she was glowing! She was so happy. Afterwards the members continued to come up and welcome her.  She is also thinking about going to BUY or going on a mission! She is doing so good and many great things are in store for her! She has been talking to her mom about what she has learned, felt and experienced and her mom is very happy for her.

It is strange to think that I only have a week left, but I plan to make the most of it and end like I have the fire of a "greeny" in their first week!!!

Oh, and our car was attacked by a huge dog with us inside screaming! But it was protected because the dog couldn't even tough the car or scratch it as it was trying to jump on it. Wow!  Also, I don't know how I didn't hit it when it ran out in front of us.

For Women's Conference we went to the church and had a little get together.  We had tacos before conference started.  The talks were all amazing!!!

Also, this past Sunday was the last time to attend the Lamoille Valley Ward since conference is this weekend.  As an outgoing missionary, I had the opportunity to speak in sacrament meeting.  I was also able to say goodbye to most people before we headed out. 

We were able to watch part of the eclipse from inside our apartment.  It was pretty awesome!  Just think, we were looking at the moon at the same time all the way across the country from each other.

It's hard to think of leaving because here I've known pretty much what I need to do and I can see the affects of my labors and the change in peoples' lives but at home I won't be able to.  Then it's hard to leave all of these people too. 

Speaking of leaving, Sister Nikulas called te Mission Office and asked if we could sing the song she wrote at my final transfer meeting... I just found out this morning... It is the song she wrote based on the testimony I shared near the start of my mission in Manchester.  The MP just has to give his final approval and it's a go.

Well, I gotta go. Love you, have a great week!!!

Baptism!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So this week was crazy busy!! I have literally felt like a chicken with my head cut off! 

On Monday we had District Pday. We tried to go to a  corn maze but it ended up being closed because it was raining. We did however get to pet the goats they had there :) Afterwards we went on another exchange with the Sister Training Leaders. Sister Giles came here with me again but this time we were on exchange from Monday afternoon to Wednesday afternoon. Later on Monday we visited some members who weren't at church to see if they were okay and then we went tracting. Afterwards we went over the training that Sister Giles and Sister Petersen were giving at Zone Conference during Zone Meeting. It ended up being a tender mercy since I missed all of Zone Meeting because of my Exit Interview.

On Tuesday we had Zone Conference at the JSM! It was sooooo good! We talked a lot about how the Gospel and the Book of Mormon helps you find happiness. We talked about how the Book of Mormon is one of our greatest tools. So here are some facts:

-There are over 200,000 variations of the Bible

-There is only one Book of Mormon

-The composition of the Bible came by way of a committee of scholars 

-The Book of Mormon from God

- The Bible took 50 scholars 7 years to complete

-Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon in 63 days 

The Book of Mormon is so amazing and is so beautifully simple yet complex!!

Then I had my exit interview and we talked a lot about the future and goals and plans..... O.o

Later we had a lesson with a Less Active member and that went well. Then we had a phone lesson with the family we are working with.

Wednesday we had a great lesson with J. We ended up meeting in a different part of the house than usual and this guy walked out looking groggy, saw us, and hurried back into his room. A few minutes later he came back out dressed in nice clothes with his hair brushed and a thick smell of cologne following him. He came right over to us and was like "Hey I haven't seen you here before are you new?" J tried to tell him who we were but she felt awkward and didn't know how so I just said "Hi I'm Sister Collins and this is Sister DeWidt. We are Missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and we share messages about Jesus Christ and how he can help us in our lives." Yeah that kind of shut him down.... 

Later we had a great dinner with Vincent and then Coordination. At Coordination the Bishop found out how long I have been out and he freaked and said "Wow I didn't even know or notice!" Then went and told everyone and they were all shocked and he said that I was a great example because you couldn't even tell that I am going home soon.

Thursday we went out with the Relief Society President to visit some sisters and also we went street contacting and tracting. 

Friday we had another great lesson with J.

Saturday we had a huge service project where we helped go around and install fire alarms.

Sunday was J's baptism!!!! Everything went great!!! J ended up bringing a friend to church and she also bought herself a new outfit that was white pants and a white top with an orange sweater because we had talked to her about how when she is baptized she will wear all white to symbolize purity and being clean again. We had a GREAT turnout!! The middle section of the Chapel was almost full and the sides had some people too!!! One sister brought her clarinet and played prelude music for people to come in without us even asking and it really helped invite the Spirit! Then everyone showed her such great love and support and afterwards many of the relief society sisters came up and congratulated her and welcomed her in the ward and gave her big hugs all with tears in their eyes. She was completely surrounded by the loving sisters of the ward who were so excited to welcome her. She even bore her testimony during the service in front of everyone. For the opening Hymn she chose the hymn "God is Love" and for the closing she chose "Count your Blessings". The Bishop pulled her aside during second hour of church to talk to her and get to know her and had a great talk with her. At the end of the service when he talked he had chosen scriptures that applied to her and ones that applied to the other little boy who was getting baptized. Also she only had to be immersed once. We were worried that her hair would float up because she only put part of it back but it didn't! The Spirit was so sweet and the talks were so good and there was so much love shown to her! Vincent even gave her a necklace for her to remember her Baptism.

Welp I gotta go but I love you to pieces and pieces so many that you cannot count!!!!!!

District P-day

Sister DeWidt, Sister Collins and photo bomb by Elder Kersh

District P-day

Sister Frame (MTC Comp) and Whit

Sister Rogerson and Whit

Whit, Elder Kersh, Sister DeWidt and Elder Miller

Whit and Sister Petersen

Sister Harper and Whitney

Sister Giles and Whitney on Exchange

How she feels knowing her mission is coming to an end

Selfies while they wait for the computers to boot

 

23 days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This week has been great!

The family we have been working with is doing so good!  I love seeing them at church.  They are also hoping to go back to the temple by the end of October!  I am so excited for them.One of my favorite things is reading scriptures with them each night.  Every night we read a story in the Book of Mormon with them and look for ways that we can liken the stories to our lives. We rotate who picks the scripture stories each night and have some amazing scripture discussions.  I love this family and will miss them so much when I come home.

So, J is getting baptized next Sunday!!!  A little background on her: J is from Peru and she had met with the missionaries for a month there and had a baptismal date all because her brother who is a recent convert and her friend from Utah who is a member referred her.  Then she had this training opportunity pop up in Vermont that she couldn't pass up so she came here.  Well, when she got here and sent her own referral all we had was the number and address to her work.  Every time we would call they would tell us that they didn't know who she was.  Then we figured out that she and Sister R work at the same place.  We gave Sister R a card with our number on it to take to J. It took a while for her to find her, but she did. Soon after that, J lost the card One day, J was having a really rough day and remembered what her friend and brother had told her about calling the missionaries if she ever needed something.  So she prayed fervently that she would be able to find our card and she did! She gave us a call but our phone had been on silent! She called five times and left some messaged.  About 2 minutes after the last call we saw the missed calls and called her back and set up an appointment.  It took us a while to find where she was staying but we found it and had a great lesson and it continued, and now she is getting baptized!!!

On Saturday, the young women's president invited J and us over for dinner.  She bought all the stuff and helped J make a traditional Peruvian meal.  It was so good and J loved being over there with the family! We had a lesson after on temples and had the members testify of the blessings of the temple and being able to have an eternal marriage.  There was so much love and the Spirit was so sweet! They even sent us and J home with left overs and were talking about having her come over on a regular basis.

If you want to read another great conversion story, here's the link to Elliot's profile.  He is amazing  and will be going through the temple later this year.  I am soooo excited for him and excited for his visit to Utah next spring.  https://www.mormon.org/me/HKZ8

So, on Tuesday we get free lunch at the hospital.  As we were leaving and approaching the main lobby, I completely tripped over the sign pointing to where the emergency room was and made a huge noise, almost knocking the sign down!  After I straightened the sign, I automatically tapped the top of it as if it were a child's head. Needless to say, everyone was laughing at the whole event...

I can't believe my mission is almost over!!!  I will be having my exit interview tomorrow!

Well I am out of time. Sorry to those I didn't have time to email back.  I love you so much!!! See you in 23 days!!!

Thug Whitney???

gross spider (why?)

While on this tracting adventure we had to keep ducking from caterpillars.  They were spinning cocoons everywhere!