Dear Family,
Seems like i just emailed, time really is flying by. I cant believe 17
more days and I get to talk to you.
Well this week went pretty good. We found some potential people, and are
just continuing to work with the ones we have now. I think marie
(britney's sister) getting more excited for her baptism on January 4th,
and we are just continuing to look for more people to teach. Thanks for
the packages, you should see my apartment i guarentee you Me and elder
Ramirez have the most decorated apartment in the mission! We got our tree
up, i bought a few lights, and used the decorations you sent out, thanks!
As well for the new shoes, hahaha i have to show you before and after
pictures of my shoes, youll laugh. My worn pare compared to the brand new
ones, dont even look the same. And as well for the coat, its been pretty
cold lately. It snowed this week, my first real time biking in snow, its
pretty crazy, good thing i wear a helmet though so im fine out there. Its
so funny though i truly am having the experience of my life, i cant think
of anytime in the future where i will have the opportunity to bike in 20
degree weather, with snow flying at me, in a dangerous city haha. Its so
much fun doing missionary work! But as always, no need to worry, when it
gets colder i throw on more clothing, i know God doesnt want a hero, he
wants me to be smart, and im always safe and protected this I know. I
always joke, i think if i was a missionary i probably would never go into
Detroit. But its such an interesting feeling, you can ask any missionary
out here and they will tell you they feel protected, its an amazing
feeling. Well other than that i guess not to much is going on right now.
Oh my phone call will be on christmas day.. just like last year. How it
works is you guys are going to have to call me. And we just got notice
that the churches cell-phone contract is not unlimited on christmas so we
are going to either have to do it at a members home, or the church. I will
let you know next week. But its between the hours of 3-5 pm or after 7pm.
And this is MIChigAN time haha. So I dont know what time it will be in
Arizona, youll have to look it up, so i dont catch you guys at an bad time
haha.
Well tell everyone Hello, and wish them a happy hollidays! And tell them i
will see them next Christmas :-) Love Elder Whipple
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Dec 15
Hello,
Well this week was Brutal! Alot of tracting, with missed appointments.
Probably like 10 appointments people made and didnt keep, means alot of
tracting out in the freezing cold. But its good its all good, its expected
we were being blessed to much. About the baptisms, we have one coming up
January 18th still with Marie. Hopefully we will be setting some new
baptismal dates with other people, who know what the lord has in store.
Yes I did get the package, and the shoes fit perfect thanks so much! Its
funny because they are size 15 and my feet still expand them. Crazy! It
was cool because when i first got in this apartment I found a pair of
sneakers that fit me. A Big Polyneisian missionary left them because he
was going home, so i took them.... they are size 16, im probably the only
missionary in the mission they will fit, so i snagged them.
Oh also about you guys being able to eat Gluten, dad told me about that.
That is so amazing! I cant wait to see you guys eat a whole pizza and not
just the top :-) hehe.
So about the phone calls, we are still working that out. I think we will
have you call the church phone, and remeber i think utah is 2 hours
earliers...... i think. But i will tell you for sure next monday what time
to expect for the call.
I have to tell you mom how crazy it is to hear about the nieces and
nephews. I cant picture Ethan as a bad boy running around, and that katie
and Hailey are playing together, its funny to think i have never even seen
them and they are already playing together. Wow time does fly and it
continues to. This christmas marks my 17/24 mark. Wow only 7 months left.
Thats so crazy haha, again dont worry im not trunky i just think its funny
to think about how fast this time out here flys, and how much i have
changed and grown. My goal when i come home is to have a 6 pack hahahahah.
Funny huh! Its not really my goal, but me and elder padeken who if you
remeber is my zone leader and i have served with and was MTC companions
with and is like my favorite missionary friend out here, decided we are
going to lose lots of weight before we go home, so maybe it could happen
haha.
But anyways things are going good. The work is moving forward, slowly but
surely. Its cold, but hey thats Michigan. I love you guys and thanks for
the christmas packages, im planning on sending out a christmas card to
everyone in the family today, so look for it. I will send 2 of them to
Kathy & Steves house. Well love you guys and i will talk to you next
week.
Well this week was Brutal! Alot of tracting, with missed appointments.
Probably like 10 appointments people made and didnt keep, means alot of
tracting out in the freezing cold. But its good its all good, its expected
we were being blessed to much. About the baptisms, we have one coming up
January 18th still with Marie. Hopefully we will be setting some new
baptismal dates with other people, who know what the lord has in store.
Yes I did get the package, and the shoes fit perfect thanks so much! Its
funny because they are size 15 and my feet still expand them. Crazy! It
was cool because when i first got in this apartment I found a pair of
sneakers that fit me. A Big Polyneisian missionary left them because he
was going home, so i took them.... they are size 16, im probably the only
missionary in the mission they will fit, so i snagged them.
Oh also about you guys being able to eat Gluten, dad told me about that.
That is so amazing! I cant wait to see you guys eat a whole pizza and not
just the top :-) hehe.
So about the phone calls, we are still working that out. I think we will
have you call the church phone, and remeber i think utah is 2 hours
earliers...... i think. But i will tell you for sure next monday what time
to expect for the call.
I have to tell you mom how crazy it is to hear about the nieces and
nephews. I cant picture Ethan as a bad boy running around, and that katie
and Hailey are playing together, its funny to think i have never even seen
them and they are already playing together. Wow time does fly and it
continues to. This christmas marks my 17/24 mark. Wow only 7 months left.
Thats so crazy haha, again dont worry im not trunky i just think its funny
to think about how fast this time out here flys, and how much i have
changed and grown. My goal when i come home is to have a 6 pack hahahahah.
Funny huh! Its not really my goal, but me and elder padeken who if you
remeber is my zone leader and i have served with and was MTC companions
with and is like my favorite missionary friend out here, decided we are
going to lose lots of weight before we go home, so maybe it could happen
haha.
But anyways things are going good. The work is moving forward, slowly but
surely. Its cold, but hey thats Michigan. I love you guys and thanks for
the christmas packages, im planning on sending out a christmas card to
everyone in the family today, so look for it. I will send 2 of them to
Kathy & Steves house. Well love you guys and i will talk to you next
week.
Dec 22
Yes I did get the packages, thanks for the goodies I love triscuits &
Spray cheese Yummyyy!
But as for me this christmas we have plans to go caroling as a district on
christmas eve and a member family the Mielkes are going to have us over on
christmas day. So what i will do is call some time random durring the day
on christmas and i will tell you the time and phone number to call me back
on. So when i call i wont be able to talk really i will just give you the
information and then hang up and you will be able to talk to me then at
9;00 michigan time haha.
Guess what we got sooo much snow this past week. Theres at least more than
a foot out there. Its so funny because that whole day we probably pushed
like 15-20 cars out of the snow, and shuvvled so many driveways wooh i was
tired. And then just last night its was 2 degrees with 40 mile an hour
winds which from what i heard brought it down to -15 with wind chill
brrrr it was so cold. We drove though so we were ok, but ill tell you its
crazy trying to bike on snow, its a real adventure. Oh Also did you get
your christmas cards? Its crazy i printed them off and almost fell over
when i realized how big they were printing out as. I thought i was just
printing off the small regular ones. Tells you how electronic savy ive
become. Well i look forward to talking to you guys on wednesday its wierd
to think its come so soon. Then it will be mothers day...... then ALL THE
TIME!! haha. Well ilove you guys.. get better. I know how you feel i have
been sick and miserable my self lately. What makes it worse is biking
while having the cold, my nose has felt like a broken faucet it turns off,
plugs up, and drips. But im doing a lot better today so thats good, and i
know you guys will to. Love you and have a merry christmas and christmas
eve and hollidays -Elder whipple
ps. me and my companion the day after christmas are going to be singing
"Ill be home for christmas....you can count on me". (Were pretty excited
about that) :)
Spray cheese Yummyyy!
But as for me this christmas we have plans to go caroling as a district on
christmas eve and a member family the Mielkes are going to have us over on
christmas day. So what i will do is call some time random durring the day
on christmas and i will tell you the time and phone number to call me back
on. So when i call i wont be able to talk really i will just give you the
information and then hang up and you will be able to talk to me then at
9;00 michigan time haha.
Guess what we got sooo much snow this past week. Theres at least more than
a foot out there. Its so funny because that whole day we probably pushed
like 15-20 cars out of the snow, and shuvvled so many driveways wooh i was
tired. And then just last night its was 2 degrees with 40 mile an hour
winds which from what i heard brought it down to -15 with wind chill
brrrr it was so cold. We drove though so we were ok, but ill tell you its
crazy trying to bike on snow, its a real adventure. Oh Also did you get
your christmas cards? Its crazy i printed them off and almost fell over
when i realized how big they were printing out as. I thought i was just
printing off the small regular ones. Tells you how electronic savy ive
become. Well i look forward to talking to you guys on wednesday its wierd
to think its come so soon. Then it will be mothers day...... then ALL THE
TIME!! haha. Well ilove you guys.. get better. I know how you feel i have
been sick and miserable my self lately. What makes it worse is biking
while having the cold, my nose has felt like a broken faucet it turns off,
plugs up, and drips. But im doing a lot better today so thats good, and i
know you guys will to. Love you and have a merry christmas and christmas
eve and hollidays -Elder whipple
ps. me and my companion the day after christmas are going to be singing
"Ill be home for christmas....you can count on me". (Were pretty excited
about that) :)
Jan 5
Well lots of changes have happened. I was the only one transferred in my district. Im not training either. Im a zone leader for the Bloomfield hills North zone. Its really crazy with what happened. Because usually when you go zone leader you go into with an experienced zone leader as your senior companion, to teach you how to do everything. But that didnt happen. They have me as the senior zone leader with a crazy missionary thats been out for 9 months. Its so hard right now my companion his name is Elder Young hes from South Salt Lake. But the problem right now is he hates his mission. IM worried he may go home! Not if i have anything to say about it though. So yet another trial.. but im more than willing to go through it, i know im blessed with this challage so i can learn from it. I heard a qoute from church yesterday from elder Eyring he said" God wont get rid of our trials, rather he will helpu us go through them, and by doing so he'll change us. So i know this is how he shapes us into the children he wants us to be. Elder young is haveing a trial, because he just wants to chill and being zone leader makes is so much more accountable, which makes him mad. And my trial is that i have to deal with it and still get work done, and still be a zone leader even though i dont quite know what im suppose to do. Haha! I love being a missionary, hardest 2 years of my life so far....but best! Please I really appreciate all of the family to pray for Elder Young! Pray that he can get a strong testimony, and the real spirit of missionary work. I cant stand to see him so depressed all the time!
Well I know this letter sounds crazy, but this has been the first time i have been able to vent in a week. I really am doing good. I have served with many challanging companions but the lord always blesses me with a way through it.
I'm serving in the Roseville area. This area is sweet because it has half supberbs and half Detroit. So im still here in Detroit! I was so excited when i found out. We have zone conference tomorrow as well. We have to plan a 70 minute instruction for the zone ahh, well let me take that back I have to haha my companion i think is going to sleep. Anyways again pray for him :-)
But things are good. I love this area, it has a lot of potential. We get lots of head quarter referalls, the second most in the mission. Marvelous things are going to happen i can feel it. Well i love you guys and appreciate all that you do. Thanks for the email. I cant wait to come home and eat a Giant Burger with you both! Bun included!!!
Well i love you all and will talk to you next week, Wish me luck :-)
Well I know this letter sounds crazy, but this has been the first time i have been able to vent in a week. I really am doing good. I have served with many challanging companions but the lord always blesses me with a way through it.
I'm serving in the Roseville area. This area is sweet because it has half supberbs and half Detroit. So im still here in Detroit! I was so excited when i found out. We have zone conference tomorrow as well. We have to plan a 70 minute instruction for the zone ahh, well let me take that back I have to haha my companion i think is going to sleep. Anyways again pray for him :-)
But things are good. I love this area, it has a lot of potential. We get lots of head quarter referalls, the second most in the mission. Marvelous things are going to happen i can feel it. Well i love you guys and appreciate all that you do. Thanks for the email. I cant wait to come home and eat a Giant Burger with you both! Bun included!!!
Well i love you all and will talk to you next week, Wish me luck :-)
Jan 12
Well it was a bitter sweet week.
I will talk about the sweet first, then proceed with the bitter. The lord blessed us amazingly this week. Headquarters sent us 11 referrals mainly all bible referrals. That means 11 people saw the churches commercial and called and requested us to bring them their free bible. Well from there we took adavantage of that, and ended up getting 13 new investigators this week. It was insane! We found 2 familys and lots of other people that really could go far! So we were pretty excited about that. Also we gave our Zone conference Instruction, which i think went pretty good. Thats a huge burden taken from us. The zone improved from last week, the ward mission leader in this ward is coming out with us and putting the hammer down on members to do the work, and so things are really starting to come together.
Now for the bitter part of the week. Well my companion still has been depressed, hardly talks to me, didnt help me write the zone conference instruction, so i wrote the whole thing... etc. But hes come to a conclusion as to why hes so unhappy. He called president Rawson a few days ago and is planning to meet with him tomorrow. The problem he is having is that hes not worthy to be out here. He told me that he has a past transgression he didnt repent for before coming out. Hes been out 9 months and has kind of just faked is way through it. Hes been with disobediant companions so hes felt fine and not depressed. Untill he was called to be zone leader, more was required of him, and without the spirit to help him, he hasnt been able to handle it. So he thinks hes going to be sent home. Its been a rough week for him, lots of tears, and prayers. But he recognizes that whatever happens is for the best, and that if they let him stay hes going to work so hard! If they send him home hes going to work towards coming back. Either way these 9 months have been good for him because hes gained a testimony about the gospel. Hes is just finally decided to take the consequences for his actions. So thats kind of the rough part of the week. But whatever comes of tomorrow will be for the best. I hope he stays, but i know right now something has to change hes not happy at all.
So thats been my week. Like a rollercoaster it has had its ups and downs, but i remain to stay optimistic!
Im excited to be zone leader in this sweet area, and i will continue to work hard tell my time is up reguardless of the circumstances!
So a little more about my area. Its funny because our ward im in is sooo small. Its probably the size of a branch. The first week i got here a lady from Detroit went up there and bore her testimony on a experience that she had. She told us of a friend she had, that casted a voodoo charm on her, which she then prayed and jesus came to her and put 3 fingers on her chest, and told her to annoit herself with oil and she will be healed. Anyways it was a pretty crazy story. Those are the kind of testimonys you never here in Utah haha.
Our area like I said covers half Detroit half suberbs much like Ferndale did. We get the 2nd most referrals in the mission, which im so excited for! It really is a humble area. I see a lot of good things happening here. The cool thing is i may finish my mission here. President Rawson is trying to leave missionarys in their areas for 6-8 months. So this could be my last area. Although that would be crazy, that would be a long time to be zone leader for.
Hey about the remodeling... i wish i was there too. I miss doing that stuff. When i get home we will have to do some kind of project to fill that big whole in the back yard haha.
Hmm i cant really think of anything else. So i love you guys and hope you have a good week. Dont worry about me and my companion things will work out, whatever the lord has in store will be for the best. I will let you know what ends up happening next week.
Love- Elder whipple
I will talk about the sweet first, then proceed with the bitter. The lord blessed us amazingly this week. Headquarters sent us 11 referrals mainly all bible referrals. That means 11 people saw the churches commercial and called and requested us to bring them their free bible. Well from there we took adavantage of that, and ended up getting 13 new investigators this week. It was insane! We found 2 familys and lots of other people that really could go far! So we were pretty excited about that. Also we gave our Zone conference Instruction, which i think went pretty good. Thats a huge burden taken from us. The zone improved from last week, the ward mission leader in this ward is coming out with us and putting the hammer down on members to do the work, and so things are really starting to come together.
Now for the bitter part of the week. Well my companion still has been depressed, hardly talks to me, didnt help me write the zone conference instruction, so i wrote the whole thing... etc. But hes come to a conclusion as to why hes so unhappy. He called president Rawson a few days ago and is planning to meet with him tomorrow. The problem he is having is that hes not worthy to be out here. He told me that he has a past transgression he didnt repent for before coming out. Hes been out 9 months and has kind of just faked is way through it. Hes been with disobediant companions so hes felt fine and not depressed. Untill he was called to be zone leader, more was required of him, and without the spirit to help him, he hasnt been able to handle it. So he thinks hes going to be sent home. Its been a rough week for him, lots of tears, and prayers. But he recognizes that whatever happens is for the best, and that if they let him stay hes going to work so hard! If they send him home hes going to work towards coming back. Either way these 9 months have been good for him because hes gained a testimony about the gospel. Hes is just finally decided to take the consequences for his actions. So thats kind of the rough part of the week. But whatever comes of tomorrow will be for the best. I hope he stays, but i know right now something has to change hes not happy at all.
So thats been my week. Like a rollercoaster it has had its ups and downs, but i remain to stay optimistic!
Im excited to be zone leader in this sweet area, and i will continue to work hard tell my time is up reguardless of the circumstances!
So a little more about my area. Its funny because our ward im in is sooo small. Its probably the size of a branch. The first week i got here a lady from Detroit went up there and bore her testimony on a experience that she had. She told us of a friend she had, that casted a voodoo charm on her, which she then prayed and jesus came to her and put 3 fingers on her chest, and told her to annoit herself with oil and she will be healed. Anyways it was a pretty crazy story. Those are the kind of testimonys you never here in Utah haha.
Our area like I said covers half Detroit half suberbs much like Ferndale did. We get the 2nd most referrals in the mission, which im so excited for! It really is a humble area. I see a lot of good things happening here. The cool thing is i may finish my mission here. President Rawson is trying to leave missionarys in their areas for 6-8 months. So this could be my last area. Although that would be crazy, that would be a long time to be zone leader for.
Hey about the remodeling... i wish i was there too. I miss doing that stuff. When i get home we will have to do some kind of project to fill that big whole in the back yard haha.
Hmm i cant really think of anything else. So i love you guys and hope you have a good week. Dont worry about me and my companion things will work out, whatever the lord has in store will be for the best. I will let you know what ends up happening next week.
Love- Elder whipple
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