Birthday week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 Whitney turns 21 on Wednesday!!! If you are in Maine and happen to see her, please with her a Happy Birthday.  She will be at a mission conference in Exeter, NH on her birthday and is excited to be with everyone from the mission.  That evening a member family is making her birthday dinner.  I am so grateful there are families there to take care of her and love her while she is so far away.

So, last P-day we really did go home and take a nap. :) It was glorious!  Today we are going to go hang out in Freeport!  We don't have to go grocery shopping because, as the Cavanaughs packed up for their move to Utah, they brought us food that they couldn't take with them.  I am sad that they are leaving but excited to be able to see them when I get home.

We have district meeting every Wednesday.  We meet with all of the missionaries in our district which is normally like 4-6 sets depending on the area.  We open with a hymn and a prayer, then say our purpose, then talk about how our areas and goals are doing.  The district leader then gives a lesson and we do "therefore what?" of the lesson.  We talk about the mission vision and how the people we teach are doing.  We also do real plays.  We close with a testimony, song and prayer.  Once that is done, we eat. :)

We went on exchanges with the Saco sisters this week. I stayed here with Sister Craig.  We found a really solid potential who is super prepared! She has three daughters and we gave both her and her oldest daughter a Book of Mormon.  She was super sweet and we had a really nice conversation with her.  We are hoping that we get to see them again either today or tomorrow to invite them to the branch activity on Friday.

We did a lot of service this week and a lot of that service was lifting heavy boxes of books and other things and also carrying out tons of bags of groceries...Needless to say, I'm just a wee bit sore haha!  While we were doing service at the food pantry one of the ladies who work there came up to us and asked how we stay so energized and happy all the time.  We were able to testify to her that it is because we know that we are children of God and because we know that we have a Savior who loves us and knows us perfectly.  She replied, "Wow! I wish everyone knew that!" Unfortunately the conversation ended right there because she had to go help someone, but then as we left they gave us both $10 gift cards to Hannaford's grocery store!!! They also sent us home with some cupcakes.  The ladies are so sweet. I love them!!!

That awkward moment when...
... you are helping at the food pantry and as you leave the cute ladies who work there tell you that two of the guys who were in that day "fancied" you and they would be a great catch. . .

Love you lots! Have a great week!

Campfire with the Cavanaughs!!!

Thunderstorm, fog and. . . frogs???

Sister Kimball, Whitney and LaRue (?) getting ice cream and visiting the cows.

What a great Mother's Day!!! We are grateful that the Cavanaugh's shared their home, dinner and computers with the missionaries of the Yarmouth Branch.  We are also grateful to their son, the branch mission leader, for keeping the Elders on track so the Sisters could could make it home by curfew after skyping home. Before long I may be able to thank them in person.  Whitney said they are getting ready to move to Sandy!

People keep asking if Whitney has changed much on her mission.  The answer is no.  She as continued to grow but she hasn't changed.  She is still the same loving, silly, random, sometimes distracted girl she has always been.  

Hopefully this post doesn't get too confusing as I try to combine information from our skype and emails.

While we were talking to her, we could see a lot of lightning through the window behind her.  She was pretty distracted and would turn her head every time she heard thunder.  We reminded her that you can't see thunder. :)  By the time she had to leave the storm was getting pretty bad and they had a 20 minute drive home.   

"The drive home was kind of creepy.  There was a lot of fog and rain and thunder and lightning and frogs were jumping all over the road!  We were in the middle of nowhere surrounded by trees.  It was like a scene out of a horror movie."

Frogs??? What?

"Yep, there were tons of frogs jumping across the road and some didn't make it. :( I am a frog killer.  Oh, and we were just down the street from where Stephen King grew up.  I now know where he got his inspiration for his scary books and movies!"

"There is a sweet family here with the cutest 4 year old girl.  We were over there recently for a less and she wasn't acting like herself.  All she wanted to do was sit by us and snuggle.  When it was time to go she started sobbing and saying that we didn't like her.  She thought we were going to leave without giving her a hug good bye.  We knelt down and told her we would love a hug.  She ran and threw herself on our laps.  She had gotten herself so worked up that it took us about 10 minutes to say our good byes and calm her down and ensure her that we love her.  She is such a sweetheart.  It was worth every minute."

"The other day we got a text from the first counselor of the RS asking if we could do a duet for Relief Society on Sunday.  We said yes even though both of us are terrified to sing in front of people.  She gave us a choice of Love at Home or a primary song that we didn't know so we picked Love at home.  We couldn't really practice with the piano since I could only play top hand so we decided to do it A'Capella. This ended up being a good thing since the piano player went home sick.  When we got up to sing both of us were so nervous!  It went really good and I think people enjoyed it."

"We also had Mission Leadership Conference last week.  It is always good to catch up with other missionaries, especially Sister Blume and Sister Frame!  While we were there I got to stay at the mission home.  I stayed in the same room that I stayed in on the night I flew in to Manchester.  That was a crazy day!  I can't believe it was over a year ago."

"I am grateful for Sister Kimball.  We love being able to serve together again.  And. . . when the Elders forget to return my USB card reader, she lets me use her camera to send you some of her pictures.  I will send more next week."

"Love you so much!!! Have a great week!"

Room at the mission home

It's a small world!!!

On Sunday morning Brian (Dad) received a text from a co-worker saying his wife met a sister missionary in Maine who said she is our daughter.  Of course, I had to ask Whit for more details...

We noticed a new family at church on Sunday so we went and introduced ourselves.  She told us about how she had also served a mission.  I asked her what brought them out here from Utah.  She said her husband was starting work at Fairchild Semiconductor here in Maine because the one he worked at in Utah was closing.  I said, "Hey, my dad worked there!"  She got dad's name and asked her husband if he knew him.  He came back and and said, "You're Brian Collins' daughter?!?!?! That is awesome! He's the man!"  Yep, it's a small world.  He is moving to Yarmouth.

Can you post the following to my blog?  I love these videos.  Both are great reminders for both youth and adults.

So, this week I convinced a 5 year old to eat his broccoli by telling him that it would make him super strong.  He ended up having two helpings!  Once he was done he went in an lifted up the couch just to show us how strong the broccoli made him. Yes, I ate my broccoli too.

A few things we did this week:
We did service at the food pantry.  We mostly carry their boxes of food when they are ready to leave.  While serving we try to show sincere love and concern.  We are so blessed.  It is nice to be able to help others.

We also served at the library.  I feel like we have really gained their trust.  This week when we got their they said, "The Sisters are here, they can back us up."

We were able to teach a few lessons this week.  It is good to get to know people better.  As we lead by the spirit we are better able to share with them and address their concerns.

We also lost our phone this week.  Luckily we were able to stay calm and were able to eventually find it.

We also went to dinner with a family to Johnny Rockets.  It was fun to visit with the family.  I ate a hamburger and really liked it!  (Who is this girl?  She used to hate hamburgers and watermelon.  Now she loves them.)  I guess one blessing I have had while on my mission is I now like more foods. :)

Well, I gotta go. Love you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We didn't have much time to get details from Whitney this week since we were trying to coordinate a time for our Mother's Day Skype!!!

Final day with Sister Upton

The Ocean!!!

Someone got a haircut.

So, someday Whiney wants to live in a yurt. Yep, she's crazy.

My daughter eating watermelon again?!?!?!?!?

Silly girls. They love serving together again.

Roadkill for dinner???

It is official, Whitney and Sister Kimball are companions again, this time working together as Sister Training Leaders.


This week has been great! 

Sometimes I still feel like I am a new missionary but then I realize that there are only a few sisters that have been here longer than me.  Time really is going by so fast.  I am in the second week of this transfer and will only have 3 more transfers.  I can't believe I will be home in about 5 months.

Sister Kimball and I are doing great and are happy to be serving together again. We went tracting a lot and we were able to find at least one potential a day since Wednesday! So pretty much we have ten potentials to follow up on! We also found this cute couple and found out that their son is a member but is less active and used to be married to one of the members in our branch and they used to have dinner with the missionaries before their son and listened to the messages.  They let us in and we shared the first vision with them and the Spirit was so strong! They said we could come back anytime and they also let us know where their son lives so we can visit him.

So, cool spiritual moment:  So every road that we picked to hit first were the ones that had solid potentials on it and with almost all of them we were able to share a small testimony wit them.  Also, this week in my studies I have been studying out of both the Book of Mormon and the New Testament and I love reading in the Book of Mormon and them testifying of Christ and that He would come and then reading about that He did come and the many things He taught and the miracles he performed.  Then I love looking at all of the amazing miracles and blessings of our day and seeing that He truly lives and that He is here! It is so amazing! The gospel is truly what brings you lasting joy, peace and happiness!  I can't imagine what my life would be like without it.  

He Lives! Click here to find out more.

As you can see in the picture, my hair is long enough to put it in a ponytail. . . I don't think I like it and the members want me to get it cut back into and a-line.  What do you think.  (silly question!  She knows I love her sassy a-line)

I getting to know the members so much better now which makes me soooo happy.  They have become so generous.  We had quite a few meals with members this week.  Sunday we had lunch with this sweet family and then dinner with another awesome family.  They both stuffed us full of yummy food!  Then on Monday we had dinner with the branch mission leader and his family and found out that they are moving to Utah around West Valley in a few weeks!  On Tuesday we had dinner with another really sweet family, corn chowder and really yummy cupcakes!  On Thursday we had dinner with another family and they fed us buffalo.  On Friday we helped the branch mission leader's mom start cleaning up and packing and so she fed us lunch and later we had dinner with one of the recent converts and had shepherds pie...

So... as we started eating the member said this "hamburg" is fresh!  And I said, "Oh really? Is it from one of your cows?"  Se said, "Nope, it is deer.  We told __ to watch out for deer last night as he was driving but he didn't listen and ended up hitting one.  So __ went out to help him and the officer who was helping them out asked if anyone  wanted the deer for the meat so __ remembered you were coming so he said he would take it." The thought just ran through my head, Sister Collins, you are eating roadkill!  HAHA it was really good though. :)

On Saturday a member left a whole meal at the church for us to take home! It was a huge pan of enchiladas, brownies, ice cream and watermelon!!!  I have been craving Mexican food for months.  Oh, I like watermelon now!  Yep, it used to make me gag, but now I love it.  The blessings of being a missionary.  

Well, one way I can tell I have been out for a while is because all of my shoes are dying! My snow/rain boots that I wore all fall and throughout winter are dead and have oles in them.  It is so muddy right now that rain boots are a must.  I was talking to a new member and asking if they new of a place I could find some cheap replacement rain boots.  She told me of a place I could get some, but when I asked where it was she ignored the question and asked what my shoe size is and insisted she was going to get me new boots!  How sweet is that?!?!

Awkward moment:  The other morning at 6:30 we got locked out of our apartment.  I wasn't even wearing shoes, just socks!  For exercising we have to go to the basement because we are on the second floor and right above a little girl's bedroom.  The door we have to go through from our apartment automatically locks if it gets shut.  So we went down and I just wore socks because I didn't feel like wearing shoes and we were just going to be in the basement but then Sister Kimball accidentally shut the door to our apartment and we literally had no way to get back inside.  We tried to see if there was a close enough window - there wasn't. Then we tried to see if we could pick any of the locks with a bobbi-pin - we couldn't. Then we tried to see if the people below us were home to grab the number and use the phone to call the landlord - the weren't even home.  Then we tried the post office next door - the window was closed.  We decided to walk to our next door neighbors and they were home and awake! I explained to the guy who answered the door what happened and he said "so you need to use a phon? Of course, come on in!" Then I had to ask if there was a woman in the home because are actually missionaries but they couldn't tell because we didn't have our tags on and that it was a rule that we could only enter his home if there was a woman present.  Luckily, there was. They let us use their phone and we had to call the Augusta sisters because that was the only number that we could remember.  They gave us the senior Elder's number who is over the apartments and we called him.  He didn't have the number for the landlord, it was at the office.  It was going to take him an hour to get to the office. The people said it would be fine for us to hang out there and then the lady said, "I don't know if it would make you feel better or worse, but you could always card the door to break i." So we said we could do that and her husband offered to help as soon as he was done eating.  Luckily I know how to card a door and within like 5 seconds I was able to get the door opened with the card the let us borrow. . .(Ummm, I thing they need a deadbolt!!!)

Sorry, I had so much I wanted to tell you that I ran out of time to upload pictures.

I love you soooooo much and I hope that you have a great day/week.  Find time to do something fun!

Companions again???

Sister Kimball and Whit

It is Patriots' Day in Maine which meant public libraries are closed.  Luckily, Sister Upton needed to go to Portland to get her hair cut and they have a family history center in the church.  Whitney was able to use their computers for a few minutes to send a quick update.

Sorry, I only have a few minutes.  Sister Upton is getting transferred.  We think she will be going to Canterbury, Maine.  It is about halfway to Manchester.

Soooo, at this point is looks like my new companion won't be new to me at all.  I think I will be with Sister Kimball again.  I will continue to be a Sister Training Leader and she will join me.  Not that it means much, but I will be STL1 and she will be STL2.  I have kept in contact with her throughout this transfer as one of her STL's.

I have a feeling I won't be in this area for a long time.  I won't be surprised if it is only one more transfer.  But, I only have 4 more transfers left in my mission.  How crazy is that?

Sorry this is so short and sorry I didn't have time to reply to everyone's emails.

I love you sooooo much and I hope you have a great week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I will send more next week and hopefully will have time to send some pictures. :)

If you want to learn a little more about her companion, you can look back at the posts from October.  Whitney was companions with Sister Kimball for one transfer, when she first transferred from Manchester to Augusta.  It will be easy for them to reconnect once they are both home as well since Sister Kimball is from Riverton.

Reunited with MTC Companions

MTC Companions - Sister Blume, Sister Frame and Sister Collins

Over the last week and a half we have done exchanges, some tracting, went to the Mission Leadership Conference (MLC) and did service.

MLC was great!  I got to see Sister Blume and Sister Frame and also some other great missionaries.  We learned a lot and found out that on May 20 we are having another missionary conference to train us on using Ipads.  Yep, I get to spend my birthday with the entire mission! President Stoker showed us the app for the pamphlets and it is so cool! It's called LDS pamphlet, I think... And then we learned some other cool stuff and items we have to train on for Zone Meeting this week.  

Note from Mom - The app is called LDS Pamphlets.  I just downloaded it on my phone.  The actual pamphlets take quite a bit of memory.  Most of these can also be downloaded in LDS Gospel Library under "Sharing the Gospel."

While I was in Manchester for MLC I also got to stay in my old apartment.  It was so weird being there without all of my stuff and with other sisters now living there.  Also, Elder Dahlberg who served in Augusta with me is now in Bedford.  He picked us up for the meetings.

Sister Upton and I felt prompted to do this thing we came up with that we call The Atonement Walk.  We are going to try it out tonight with some members.  We felt like we needed to something else for our training.  While discussing what we could do, Sister Upton mentioned that for Christmas in her zone they did a Walk with Christ activity.  As we talked we decided that we could do a silent walk and walk through the different facets of the Atonement.  Our plan is to start off by telling them to be silent and to follow us and we are going to read Matt 26:36, about how Jesus and his disciples went to the garden and he told them to sit and watch. Then we are going to walk them to a room that we are hopefully going to have set up with some plants and chairs.  We will then read Matt 26: 37-39 and then Alma 7: 11-13 and ask what pains of yours did he feel?  They won't share these with us but will be given time to ponder how He sacrificed for them.  After that we are going to read Matt 26: 45-50 and they will walk with us to the next room.  There we will read Matt 27: 17-20, 37, 46, 50 w/JST, and 54 and ask, "When was a time that you felt forgotten or misunderstood?" We will let them ponder and then ask, "Did you know the Savior was with you?" Then read Matt 27: 57-60 and move to the chapel.  In there we are going to have them close their eyes and we will read in parts with the Zone Leaders John 20: 11-17.  We are then going to have them open their eyes and there will be a picture of Christ in front of them and we will ask them what Christ has done for them and have a mini testimony meeting.  I hope it works out like we have pictured it.

For service we go to the library and help out with old documents and the town's history stuff which is super cool!  We also help at the food pantry every other week and just help carry out the people's bags for them.  It is a lot of fun.  I love being able to serve the people in this mission.

We had a meal with some members one night.  My companion was having a rough day and feeling kind of down so I did the lesson and led the discussion.  It was a really good lesson and the spirit was so strong that almost everyone was in tears.  They said we answered their prayers and it went very well.  I think that night help us come closer as a companionship as well.

Last week we did exchanges with the Sisters from the Saco ward.  We met up with them at the Portland Headlight Lighthouse.  We had lunch while we were there.  It was really cold so we ended up eating in the car.  Of course, we had to take some pictures while we were there. 

One of these days we are going to take a ferry to tract an island and we also have areas to tract right along the ocean.

There is a chance I won't be able to email next week.  Patriot's day is celebrated as a state holiday so the library will be closed on Monday.  We'll cross our fingers that I can work something out.

Love You!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Meeting up for exchanges

Portland Headlight Lighthouse

The Ocean!!!

Sister Collins and Sister Upton

Happy (cold) missionary

Sister Missionaries at the Mission Leadership Conference

Whitney's District

Conference and Easter

I love the ocean!

I hope you had a fabulous Easter and enjoyed General Conference.

Notice the ocean in the top corner of the picture. :) Also, the snow is almost gone!!!  It has still been really cold and we have had a couple snow storms, but I am hopeful spring is on its way.

This week I went on exchange with Sister Craig!  She was trained by Sister Smedley.  She is super cute.  We talked a lot about Manchester and the super amazingly awesome people there! :D

Sadly, we didn't have any lessons this week, but we are hopeful that as we continue working and praying that they will come.  It is going to happen.

I think the most uplifting moment for me this week was Conference.  We are asked to pray before conference with specific questions in mind.  I did and had so many questions and prayers answered!  It was also good to hear about how people in Manchester are doing, both members and the investigators I met with back in September.  I have been blessed to serve in some amazing areas.

I loved all of the talks in conference.  I love how the focus of this weekend sessions and the General Women's Broadcast were so focused on family.  If I had to pick a favorite talk, I would say the talk by Quinten L. Cook.  You can view his talk at the following link:
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/watch/2015/04?lang=eng&vid=4154381044001&cid=12 

I am also so grateful that I get to talk to Sister Bee every week when we do call-ins.  I love hearing about my friends in Augusta.  It is amazing to hear about the investigators we had and also the potentials from before who are now investigators!!!

Later today I will be heading to Manchester for MLC.  I am excited to see many of my friends.  I will get to see my companions from the MTC, Sister Frame and Sister Blume.  They are currently serving as STLs together.  All of the STLs will be staying at the mission home tonight.  I am pretty excited. There will also be four of the Elders I have served with.  It will be so nice to catch up with them as well.

Sorry, I don't have much time to write today.  I also ran out of time to upload more pictures.  I will send more next week.

Love you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Interesting side notes from her emails to me (mom):

Her companion thinks I am "trunky" (more focused on her coming home than her service).  I was a little confused at how she could come to that conclusion.  I then realized it is probably because of the packages she has received.  I normally send her a package every other month.  Nothing fancy, usually a homemade treat and items she has mentioned she needs as well as notes from home.  Well, since they have been companions she has received three.  The first package had cookies that she requested so she could have them with a family in Augusta before she transferred.  Unfortunately, mail was held up and it arrived after she left.  Sister Bee gave her the package when they went to Augusta for Zone Conference.  The second package was small and just had brownies and a music cd.  I had extras from a YW/YM activity and decided to send her some since she didn't get the cookies.  The package she got this week was to celebrate her 1 year mark and Easter.  I can totally see how she could think that many packages were excessive if you didn't know the why behind them.

Our family also has a joke with Whitney.  She HATES any food/candy that will turn her mouth a different color, especially blue.  With every package we have sent we have included some type of blue candy.  We know that she will give that item to her companion or the Elders in her area.  Her four year old cousin  recently asked if Whitney hates her car (it's blue).  We had to explain that it is just blue candy she hates.  Well, we sent her a package of blue peeps in her Easter package.  She laughed and set them aside, saying that she would be giving them to the elders.  Not understanding the running joke, her companion was offended that she didn't appreciate the items we sent her and would just give them away.  She had to explain to her companion that I sent them knowing she would not eat them. 

I love my missionary daughter.  I love hearing her stories and watching her grow.  I love receiving pictures where I can see the true joy in her eyes.  I wouldn't trade this time for anything, but of coarse, like all moms, I am excited for the hug I will get in October.