Staying busy!

I can’t believe I have been on my mission for almost 11 months!!!  That is only six transfers!

How much snow do you have now?  Did you have any days this week that you were grounded?

Luckily we weren't grounded at all this week YEAH!!!!! :D But yesterday church got cancelled because of a potential snow storm that ended up not really being that bad. But it was really windy and cold.

Did you write any letters?  We are getting worried that you will come home with half of the note cards and pre-stamped envelopes unused…

I did write kind of a letter.... You will see what I mean....

How are lessons going?  Can you share any details?

So after working really hard for long time we are finally seeing progression! We have 5 new investigators this week and several potentials that we have appointments with next week who are sincerely interested. In total we have 8 investigators right now! And one with a baptismal date and we’ll hopefully have another one with a baptismal date this week!

Well we met two families who want to learn more. We also met this Iraqi family and they mostly speak Arabic but want to learn English and let us share a message with them and them and so we'll see where that goes. We also had some great discussions with E and related Ether 6 to our mortal lives and our journey here on earth. We had some great meal appointments with members too.  We also met this cute little grandma and we got to share a message with her about the plan of salvation.

We even got a call from the zone leaders complimenting us on the work we are doing and the successes we have seen lately.

How are you and Sister Bee dealing with the cold and snow?

It is sooo cold! We normally layer up a ton! 

Well Sister Bee totally fell on some ice and it was really funny to watch and then she tried to be skilled and somersault off the bed but she kind of just fell out of bed and I tried to catch her but all I caught was one of her legs and her head landed on my foot and the rest of her kind of just plopped on the ground and on our drying rack and well it broke.... after she had broken the other one we had... It was really funny :) 

Whitney Moments?

That awkward moment when you knock on someone's door and it flies open and when you go to grab it you accidentally press the door bell that you didn't notice was there are so then when the little old lady comes to the door right as you close it she says "You have to give a person time to come to the door." And you can barely talk because you were just laughing super hard...

Tell us more about some of your investigators.

Well this one we just barely found last week. Her dad and her three sisters were all baptized a little over a year ago but she didn't want to at that moment. She is going to be twelve in two weeks and she wants to go to the temple trip with her family because she doesn't want to be left out and she said that she has thought really deeply about baptism and said "One side of me really wants to and says 'Get baptized' but then the other side says 'No don't'" So we have started having lessons with her on Wednesdays and she is just super cute and has all of these dreams and ambitions and I just want to be here for her baptism.  We just need to help her push past the fear and take a leap of faith.  We are helping her understand the doctrine a little more.

We have another twelve year old boy who comes to church but isn't a member. He wants to be baptized and he wants to pass the Sacrament but at this time he really needs love and support to get him to that point.  He is an amazing kid!

Other things that happened this week…

We also went tracting on Monday and met a satanist which was creepy and met this shirtless guy who opened the door and said right now is a really bad time.

We shoveled some snow for some members and parts of where they needed shoveled went up to my hips! I don't think I have ever been in snow that deep before!

 Oh we also saw this big guy out shoveling without a shirt! 

We also had dinner with some members who served us enchiladas!  Remember how last week we were craving Mexican food?  Well, we got some.

We had a couple meetings this week as well as several lessons with investigators.  One of our lessons had to be rescheduled for next week though.

We didn’t really do anything for Valentine’s Day except eat more of the cookies you sent.  Oh and the “hugs” were super cute! I loved them!

Oh, I have a couple thank you cards I wrote around Christmas and forgot to send.  I will be sending them with a letter to you.  Can you deliver them for me? (pretty please?)

I will have to tell you more later, my time is up.

LOVE YOU BYE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Whitney's "special" cookie. Pre-bitten by Katherine.

Selfie????????

Selfie I got since her camera was dead all week

So my camera died and I kept forgetting to charge it so I didn’t really take any pictures this week. . .

This week has been great! We went tracting a lot and were able to get 84 ITLs! 

On Friday night we decided that we wanted to get 40 ITLs. We prayed and had faith that we could reach this goal. We also trusted in the promise that for every ten people we talk to we will find 1 potential. And we definitely saw that promise fulfilled! We worked and talked to everyone and we found 4 potential investigators just on Saturday! 

One of them we found was on the tenth ITL. We met him while he was shoveling and asked if he needed help. He said no but we told him who we were and he said "No way! I know some Mormons, they actually own this house." We figured out who it was and then he said that he has been looking for a church and that he has been talking to these members about coming to church. He then asked us some really good questions and then said that this must be an answer from God. He didn't come to church this Sunday only because he didn't have any clean clothes. But I have faith that he'll come. 

We also met this couple who are foster parents and have a close friend who is Mormon and they have been to church in a different ward before. The guy said "There needs to be more Mormons in the world." We invited them to attend church and they said they would come but they can't right now because of the foster kids they have right now but they would love for us to come back.

We have found several solid potentials this week and I am so excited to watch them progress.  

We got a little more snow this weekend but not too much.  We are supposed to be getting a lot later today and tomorrow.  UGH I AM SOOOO SICK OF SNOW!!!!!!!!!! And driving in it.  Today, right as it hit ten, we rushed out the door and headed to the library.  When we were almost here we got a voicemail saying to contact our ward mission leaders to see if any schools were closed and if they were then we are grounded.  We were already at the library and haven’t gotten a text back yet, so we are good so far.  If it gets worse we will be heading back to our apartment.

Any interesting stories?

Um well we met a lady who let us in and then told us that she has THIRTEEN CATS!!!!!!!

Oh also we may or may not have accidentally walked into someone's house thinking it was an entryway to several apartments... whoops...

We need more details about your so when people ask what you have been doing we have an answer.

Well I breathed, I am hungry now, and I said hi?

Tuesday… 

We did emails, ate Subway, got groceries, got air in our tires, had a lesson with Elliot, then had dinner with some members and made them cry :)

The one with Elliot was about Baptisms for the Dead and the other one we watched Because of Him  Both lessons were great.

Wednesday….

We had a meeting and then we went out tracting and met this awesome couple who know Mormons in Bangor and the guy said that there needs to be more Mormons in the world.  (This is the couple with foster kids mentioned above)

Oh shoot sent that too soon...

We also went to new beginnings/ YW in excellence and got to bare our testimonies to them.  I just love being with the Young Women!

Were those people LDS? 

 Nope they weren't! They have been to church a few times with that member in Bangor and really liked it. We invited them to church and the only reason why they said no was because they have two foster kids and they don't want to leave them at home or take them to church because they can be a little hard. The whole time we were there it felt as if we were just talking to members it was so weird.  I have a reaaly good feeling about them.  I think they are truly ready for the gospel.

Thursday…. 

We had service at the food bank and then got a lady unstuck with the help of ten people. Went tracting, Went to enrichment, held a baby, ate food, and went to bed.

Enrichment Night Activity…. 

We had a get to know you activity and there was a woman there from northern Maine visiting her parents.

She's the one who makes the reborn baby dolls.  They look so real and it is a little creepy.  You just look at them and wait for them to move.  Sister Bee and I both really miss being able to hold babies.  We were holding one of the dolls and pretending it was real.  We were both laughing so hard and had Sister Dawbin laughing as well.

Friday…. 

We planned, tracted, had another awesome lesson with Elliot.  Sometimes I think we learn more from him than he learns from us.

That day a member was taking us out to eat and asked us where we wanted to go.  Out of all of our options we picked Taco Bell because we both miss Mexican food so much. 

We also contacted a potential and set up a return appointment with them.

Later we went to a random house and knocked on the door.  I really big guy answered the door without his shirt on.  We were a little distracted by his hairy chest and beard that had food in it.  We tried to get our words out gracefully but don’t think we did very well.  We just weren’t expecting to see a shirtless man while we were out tracting in 0 degree weather.  Yep, not our best moment.  He wasn’t interested.

The weekend was more of the same.  More tracting. More snow. More fun in the life of a missionary.  Oh, on Sunday I did give a talk.  It was on the Sacrament. 

Well I gotta go!

Love you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Have a great week!

Tracting between storms

Snow and Lobster

So much snow!

How much snow did you end up getting this week?

I have no clue.  A LOT! In the picture I am standing on top of a small bank of snow.  Snow is piled up like that everywhere.  There is even snow covering part of the windows on our apartment. 

What did you do on Tuesday during the storm?  Also, the following Monday?  They were stuck in their apartment multiple days because of the blizzard and other big storms.

We organized our apartment.  We thought about going out and walking but as soon as we opened the door we got pelted with snow so we decided it probably wasn’t the safest idea so we stayed inside.  We studied, took a nap, played a card game, made some phone calls, updated some of our visuals, kinda got bored, etc.  Oh, I also made a casserole and brownies for dinner.  I think Sister Bee thought I was crazy when I said I was making a casserole.  It sounds so very domestic.

Tell us about some of your visits this week.

We visited one of our investigators and found out that he may not be all there. . . He said that Jesus walks outside is apartment all the time and that he snores as well as other things.  We decided it was best to drop him, especially after he sneezed and I said “bless you” and his response was that he was the only one he needed blessings from.

We also met with the less active family that was our miracle run-in a couple weeks ago.  It went really well.  We talked about the Atonement more and about how as we use the Atonement we can have eternal peace and happiness.  We got to testify and share our experiences.  It went great!

How was the lobster?

The lobster was soooo good!  I couldn’t finish it all though because it was really rich.  This ward really spoils us. 

Were you able to go out and meet any new investigators between storms?

We had 62 ITLs (Invitations to Learn) this week despite the storms and found three potentials!

Have you gotten to test out your silly ice grippers?

I am using them today.  See awkward story below.

Whitney moments…

That awkward moment when you knock on a door and the lady opens up and gets excited to see you then realizes you aren’t who she thought you were so she asks who you are and you tell her then she says, “Oh, I thought  you were my 60 year old niece.”  She must have had some vision problems. 

… You are tracting and you forgot your ice grippers/creepers and you just so happen to tract into this house with a driveway full of ice so you lose your footing and almost completely biff it and take five minutes to get your footing again.

..You are going to a meeting and the GPS takes you up a huge un-plowed hill and you can’t turn back and the car can only go 5 mph and the traction light is blinking and the car keeps stopping and almost running into snow banks and both of you are freaking out that you are going to roll back down the huge hill and die so you yell, “HEAVENLY FATHER PLEASE GET US UP THIS HILL!” Then, when you finally make it to the top alive, you look at your companion and you both just die laughing out of relief and shock…

… You’re out tracting and its been a while since you used the little girls’ room and you say something sassy so your companion pushes you and you almost have an accident…

Miracle of the week:  While I was bored and organizing our Ensigns, out of this random Ensign I never looked at before fell this little SD card that said Whitney on it!!!  It is the card I thought had been wiped off the table and in to the garbage back when Sis Kimball was my companion.  I have the pictures of my last transfer in Manchester!!!  I was afraid I was going to have to get copies of Sis Smedley’s pictures.

Have a great week!  Love you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cute companions

Casserole made for dinner while they were stuck in their apartment.

Elliot and Mary Jo.  Whitney loves this couple!

First time eating lobster (except in chowder) and she loved it.

Snow in Augusta - Photo borrowed from Sis Dawbin

Another picture from Sister Dawbin